The Change In Destiny
by Veritaserum.394.POA
Summary: After the incident at department of mysteries Harry wants nothing but Sirius to come back when all of a sudden his wish is fullfilled. But at what cost? Friends turns foes and enemy start helping him. Harry finds himself in love with his all time enemy. Will his love survive? will Sirius be able to help Harry? on hiatus!
1. Dobby to the rescue

The Change in Destiny

Chapter 1: Dobby to the rescue

The hottest day of summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large square houses of Privet Drive.

A skinny, black haired, bispectacled boy was snoring loudly. He had been sitting in a chair beside his bedroom window for better part of the afternoon, staring out at the sun burnt street, and had finally fallen asleep with one side of his face pressed against the hot window pane, his glasses askew and his mouth wide open.

The room was strewn with various possessions. His school truck lay at the end of the bed. It hadn't been touched in a week. The dust and owl feathers decorating it were the indication of his interest at his school stuff. His snow white owl sat in its cage looking at its master with what seemed to be like concern. The boy was muttering in his sleep. Slowly tears rolled down his pale ghostlike skin. Suddenly the boy started thrashing in the chair. His muttering became shouts and pleas as he kept saying "I'm sorry Sirius, I'm sorry. Please come back. I need you Sirius. Please Sirius Sirius Sirius **SIRIUS **..."

He woke up and was drenched in sweat. Tears were freely falling down and he was panting.

Just then sound of someone heavy climbing the stairs could be heard. Mr Vernon Dursley, a heavy beefy man with hardly any neck and with large moustach banged the door open. He was glaring at the boy and his face was red with anger.

"Stop shouting you freak. Keep your shoutings to yourself you indolent brat. Normal people stay here not freaks like you and your good for nothing parents. One more noise you and your stuff will be out of this house. I don't care if your Godfather is a murderer". With that he banged the door shut.

The boy kept staring at the door .'Godfather? Who Sirius? The one I got killed?'

The picture of his godfather falling through the veil in the Department of Mysteries played before his eyes. Soon the boy was nothing but a weeping mess.

A loud sound of something cracking startled the boy. He looked up to see a creature with thin long nose, large bat like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis ball meet his eye sight.

The boy stared at the creature for a second before a small smile graced his face. "Dobby! How are you? What are you doing here?"

Dobby smiled at the kindness of his master or his friend as the boy liked to call him. "Harry Potter sir",the elf said in a high pitched voice. "Dobby here to help Harry Potter sir. What can Dobby do for Harry Potter sir. Dobby concerned about master Harry."

Harry smiled through his tears, "There is nothing you can do Dobby.",he said.

Tears weld up in the elf's eyes,"Dobby cannot help Harry Potter sir. Dobby is a bad elf. Dobby must be punished."The elf started banging its head on the legs of a bent chair till a pair of strong arms engulfed him into a hug. Dobby stared at Harry in shock before a moonlit smile caught his face.

"It's not your fault Dobby. It's entirely my fault. If I had just listened to Hermione then...", tears threatened to fall as Harry tried to stop them.

"You can tell Dobby Harry Potter sir. Dobby listens to Harry Potter sir."

Something inside Harry broke. The desire to spill his heart to the elf overcame the barrier of stubbornness he was showing from past week.

"He was my godfather Dobby. He was the first family I ever had. He was the first one to show that someone cared for me, someone loved me. He was the only connection to my parents. He was everything. He was like a father, a brother, a friend everything to me and I got him killed. I can't stay without him. I ..."

The dam of anger, sadness, grief, loneliness that had woven like a wall broke. His shoulder started shaking. His whole body shook because of the force of the tears. Dobby engulfed him in a hug and patted his back in an effort to calm him. They stayed like that for what seemed to be like hours. His sobs now came as hiccups. The tears on his cheeks dried. Harry was at last able to pull himself together. He looked up to see the elf that had his own tears running through his eyes.

"Thank you Dobby.", Harry said in a hoarse voice.

"Dobby is always there to help Harry Potter sir. Can Dobby do anything else for Harry Potter sir?", he asked.

Sensing it as the right moment to acknowledge its master Hedwig hooted in its cage.

"Sorry I forgot about you Hedwig. Dobby can you get something to eat for Hedwig?", Harry said.

"Dobby gets food to Hedwig Harry Potter sir. Dobby be right back."With that the elf popped out of the room.

Harry got up from his place and stretched. He observed that there was a drastic change in climate. A cool air was blowing through the streets. Clouds and thunder marked the sky.

"Stay here Hedwig. I'll go for a walk and come back",Harry said. Hedwig hooted his answer.

Harry opened his trunk and took his wand and invisibility cloak. He slowly tiptoed through the hallway and slowly climbed down the stairs. The front door was locked. He wrapped his cloak around him and entered the kitchen.

Vernon and his son Dudley were stuffing their mouth with food for all its worth. Petunia Dursley, a thin blond woman with a neck twice the usual amount was fussing over her walrus son. Harry's stomach grumbled with the sight of food and he remembered that he hadn't tasted food for almost 2 days now. His uncle had found some mistake in all the chores he had done in the past 2 days and had said that he was not worth the money they spend on him. He carefully crossed the kitchen and prayed to all the Gods he could remember that the back door be open. He slowly turned the knob and breathed a sigh of relief. He sneaked out of the backdoor and he let his leg take him where ever it wanted.

A sudden thought passed him ,"I'll never understand how aunt Petunia and mum are sisters. She in nothing like mum. Nor by looks, nor by brains and not at all by behaviour."

He kept on walking till his legs gave away and he collapsed near the low wall at Magnolia Crescent. As Harry took in his surrounding a wave of sadness hit him as he remembered that the place he was sitting was the same place where he had glimpsed Sirius for the very first time.

Tears slowly made its way down his cheeks as he thought of his godfather SIRIUS BLACK.

"I'm sorry Sirius. Please come back."

Through the bushes a very big dog with wide gleaming eyes kept staring at him.


	2. Why did these things happen

The CHANGE IN DESTINY

Chapter 2: Why did these things happen?

Harry sat back and thought of all the things that happened in his life. Things that made sense, things that didn't,things that were believable and some that were not.

When he had seen Sirius fall through the veil something in him had changed. It was like he had discovered a new place inside him. It was like a rational side that was absent. This new side made him think, understand, question and analyse what ever others said to him or things that happened around him. He had difficulty in believing whatever others said.

What confused him the most was his encounter with Voldemort. When Voldemort had possessed him he could have killed him or could have killed Dumbledore or at least tried to hurt him. But no Voldemort had made Harry see all the things that he had gone through from the time he had started at Hogwarts. It was like he was trying to show Harry something. Something he had missed or could not see. What confused him the most was the thing Voldemort had said just before he left his body.

"Can you really trust Dumbledore? Is he really the light lord you think he is? Think Harry Potter; think carefully."

'No Voldemort was just trying to trick me again. Dumbledore will never do anything to hurt me. But still... Did Voldemort come out of his hiding place just to tell me this? Did he revel himself to the wizarding world just to lie to me? He would have known that I would never doubt Dumbledore, not after I fell for his trick and lost Sirius. But there is no problem in thinking ,right? It's not like he asked me to leave or kill Dumbledore.'

He thought of writing about his dilemma to Ron, sure that he would have some idea. But then he remembered how Ron was acting towards him from the time they had come back from the ministry. He also remembered the things he and Ginny were talking in the hospital wing thinking that he was asleep.

"I can't believe we almost got killed because of that Potter." Ron had said.

"I know and what did we get in return a one night free stay in the hospital wing!",Ginny had replied.

"Don't worry we'll make Potter pay for all the danger he has put us through. How much more time do you need before he starts liking you? I can't wait anymore. I'm fed up of being poor."

"Oh I don't know. I keep on trying to seduce him, but believe me a blind man would have shagged me by now but not him. When I finally get my hands on his money I'll make him beg me for a knut." She had said with a laugh.

Recalling all these things Harry realised how both were behaving with him. He observed that Ron always tried to make sure that he couldn't talk to others. He always tried to distract him with Quidditch or food or his problems. He didn't care whether he was interested or not.

Ginny on the other had always tried to flirt with him. She didn't get the message that he was not interested in her. He recalled the days when he was in relationship with Cho. It had taken only one relationship for him to understand that he was NOT interested in girls. He preferred men. Alright he was a... ohf.. he was a gay. He remembered disgustingly how Ginny had tried to distract him by clinging to him through out their train journey, he had a gagging feeling inside him for three days. That too when he was going through his godfather's death.

Then there was Hermione, she was the only one other than Remus who had understood what Harry was going through. She had given him the space and time he needed. She had made sure he ate without annoying was two days after Sirius's death and Harry had still not talked to anyone, she had dragged him into an empty classroom and had locked him and herself in there till he had confessed to her what was troubling him. Two and a half hours later when he at last gave in she had slapped him, glared at him for almost two minutes and had said ,"You are an idiot **Harry James Potter**. If you think Sirius died because of you then you are the biggest fool on earth. Sirius died because he wanted to help you. He died because he wanted to save you. He died because he loved you and couldn't see you get hurt. Stop blaming yourself for everything that happens. You cannot save everyone. The best you should do is to think how to act from now on."

From then on Harry had spent better part of his summer thinking of all the things that had happened to him from the time his parents went to hiding till the adventure at Department of Mysteries.

He once again went through all the things that he thought were senseless.

His parents went into hiding because of Voldemort. They changed the secret keeper from Sirius to Peter. Dumbledore was the one who had cast the Fedilus charm. Didn't Dumbledore know then that Peter was their secret-keeper?

After their death why did Sirius leave him with Hagrid and go behind Peter. Why did he leave him alone? Why didn't he try to prove his innocence till his third year at Hogwarts?

Dumbledore knows about everything that happens. He can see right through peoples act. In the memory Dumbledore had shown Harry,he had seen right through Tom Riddle when he had first met him and had known that he would be a dark wizard one day. Then why didn't he see through Peter's acts. How did he not see Sirius was innocent? Why didn't he get Sirius a trial when he was able to save Snape? He was after all the Chief Warlock at that time. They could have just tested Sirius under the veritaserum.

If Harry was the hero of the wizarding world then why didn't people come to check on him? Did they not know that he was being abused by his uncle and aunt?

Before Hogwarts when all muggleborns and muggle raised people had a head of the house introduce them to the magic world why did Hagrid come to talk to Harry about his place in Hogwarts? It was not like he was a bad guy. It was just that he was not the right person to tell someone about magic for the first time. He forgot to give Harry the basic introduction to the wizarding world. He didn't give the basic knowledge about different branches of magic. The most important he didn't tell Harry how to get on platform 9 ¾.

In his first year did Dumbledore not know that Quirrell was possessed by Voldemort. If someone was really trying to steal the stone then how could Dumbledore keep it in the school? How could he put so many children's life in danger? How could he keep obstacles that three first years could pass?

In his second year why didn't the teachers do something to stop the rumours that Harry was the heir of Slytherin? Why didn't any of them guess that a basilisk was roaming the castle when a second year girl could guess?

In his third year when he and his friends told Dumbledore that Sirius was innocent why did he ask them to save him? Why didn't he try to clear Sirius's name? All he needed was some veritaserum.

In the fourth year why didn't Dumbledore recognise that his close friend was an imposter. When Voldemort came back to power why didn't he try to prove that what Harry was telling was the truth. Again all he needed was some veritaserum.

At last when Dumbledore knew that Harry was having visions about the prophecy. Why didn't he tell him about it at the first place? There was a nagging feeling inside Harry's head that kept telling him that there was something fishy about the prophecy. It was like something was missing. He felt Dumbledore was keeping some parts of the prophecy from him. He was not telling him the complete truth.

And then there was the fact that if Dumbeldore had said him about the prophecy from the first they could have saved Sirius. It was not like Dumbledore had to tell him the complete prophecy. He could have just said that Voldemort was behind the prophecy and he had to be carefull about it. Then Harry would have thought twice before he going into the ministry. Sirius would not have come to rescue would have been alive.

Again Harry started crying as he remembered all the time he had spent with Sirius. In his own thoughts and grief Harry had failed to notice that,the dog, that was staring at him had crossed the bushes and was standing in front of him.

All of a sudden Harry was startled out of his thoughts by a loud bark. It scared the living lights out of him. He looked up to see a big grim like dog standing in front of him. He started at the dog for a few seconds before something clicked in him. He closed the distance between them in one stride and hugged the dog. Tears were freely falling. He was not able to talk for a few seconds. A feeling of joy, relief, and shock was overwhelming him. After a long time he felt like he was living. It was like he had a life inside him. After a long time he had a desire to live. After a very long time he gained his voice.

"**SIRIUS!" **


	3. Has he lost it?

The Change In Destiny

Chapter 3: Has he lost it?

"Sirius!"

'Am I dead? No, I don't think so. Then how is Sirius alive?', Harry couldn't believe it. He would not believe it. 'It's only a matter of time before I wake up from this dream. But I like this dream.'

He pulled back. The dog had tears of happiness. Harry rubbed his eyes and racked his brain to see something that would tell him that this dog was not his godfather. When nothing happened he shook his head as if trying to come out of the dream. Now this dream was getting too painful to watch. He couldn't bear to see his godfather.

"Harry.", said a hoarse voice suddenly. A pale hand gripped his shoulder. He turned around to see Remus Lupin standing there. His face was as tired as ever and he had stripes of grey hair. But his eyes held a look of happiness like he had found some treasure. "Professor Lupin?",Harry said. He looked from Remus to the dog a few times. When Remus tried to touch him he backed off as if burnt. In a blink he had his wand pointing at the two. "Who are you? What do you want? It's a very dirty joke you're trying to pull.", he said. His voice held anger and threat.

The dog gave a loud bark trying to console him. Remus held up his hand to silence the dog. "Let me handle this Padfoot. He has gone through a lot in a short time. He must be in shock." He turned towards Harry who still held his wand. "Harry I know this is difficult and confusing. Let us explain but not here. Let's go somewhere safe alright. Please trust us Harry.", he said taking a step near him. But Harry backed off. Harry did not know why but he felt like he cannot trust anyone. Not after what he had heard from Ginny and Ron or from what had happened in the ministry.

"What shape was my boggart about to take in our third year DADA class and what did you assume? "He asked.

Padfoot shook his head in amusement.

"Very good question Harry," Lupin replied, "your boggart was about to take the shape of a dementor but I thought it would be Voldemort. Also I had said that what you fear the most of all is fear itself."

Harry was not done yet. "Last year I had floo called to talk to Sirius about what?", he asked.

Padfoot barked in annoyance. "Padfoot quit." ,Lupin scolded. "You had called to ask us about a prank your dad and Sirius had pulled on Snape. Anything else Harry?", he asked. He knew that the boy would have lot of trouble accepting this. He was worried about how he'll take the other news. He just prayed that the boy would be ok after learning all the truth.

Harry looked defeated. He knew it was Moony and Padfoot standing in front of him but he had trouble believing it. He was trying desperately to prove them wrong. He took a deep breath. "Well...ok, Padfoot is alive but why? I mean what?Ah... Oooo that's not right. Ok Padfoot is alive, how? I myself saw him falling through the veil and then now...here...alive!",he looked confused. He suddenly looked up and asked "Is it his ghost?"

Remus snorted in amusement. "No Harry it is the mighty and sexy Sirius in his own flesh and bones!",he replied. Padfoot growled and butted him.

Harry blinked and then again blinked waiting for the dream to get over. But a loud bark from Padfoot brought him back to reality. "Ok I get it, Padfoot is alive. But how... I don't know." ,he replied. Remus patted him reassuringly and said, "Not here Harry it's not safe." Harry snorted bitterly. "Why don't we go to your house and get your things and then we'll head to Grimmauld place."

"Alright" ,Harry replied happily. Then he bent down and cradled the dog in his arms. Padfoot tried to struggle out of his grip but he just held on tight with each protest.

Remus watched the scene with amusement. "He has legs Harry." ,he said. Harry looked at him as if he was some fool. "I know that!" ,he replied. "He can walk.", Remus said. "Oh, I know." Harry replied. "You can put him down." ,Remus said annoyed. A look of pure horror crossed Harry's face. He took a step back, shook his head firmly and said ,"I've already lost him once. I'll not lose him this time. I'm not leaving him. What if he gets hurt or if he gets hit by a car or if he runs away or someone kidnaps him or he gets lost? No I'm not letting him down.", he replied. Remus gave a pitied look at Padfoot and said, "Aright Harry lets go."

If someone says that Padfoot was pissed it was an understatement. Padfoot was sure that Harry had lost it at last 'The poor boy has cracked under all the pressure'. Throughout the walk Harry held a firm grip on Padfoot ...almost choking him. When they reached privet drive to Padfoot's relief Harry gave him to Remus and went to collect his things.

"Alright Harry you hold on to Padfoot" Remus said when Harry returned, "and then hold my arm. I'll apparate us there."

He held on to Padfoot tightly and caught Remus hand. Then he felt the familiar feeling of being pulled and squeezed.

They landed at a park nearby Grimmauld place. As they approached the place they saw a group of people standing there. The group was made of Albus Dumbledore, Molly Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Mad Eye Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks. Bill Weasley was waving his wand in front of the building trying to break the wards. Remus shoved Harry in a nearby alley and motioned him to be silent. He was thinking for some time. "We have to get in without being noticed." ,he said. "I have my cloak. If you distract them Padfoot and I'll get in." Harry said. Remus thought for a while and said "Alright take the cloak and come behind me. Be careful.",Harry wrapped the cloak around him and Padfoot. Remus cast a silencing charm just in case.

They walked towards the group. Tonks was the first one to see him. "Remus.", she said with a blush. The group looked at him. "Ah just the man we needed!", Albus said, "Did Sirius tell you how to get inside?" "Sorry Dumbledore you can't get in." ,Remus replied. This got their attention. Albus was furious, Molly looked dejected and others were shocked or curious. Without anyone noticing Harry and Padfoot slipped inside the house. Remus breathed a sigh of relief. "What do you mean we can't get in?" ,Molly asked. "Well you see the place is warded so that only a Black heir or Black descendent can get in. Sirius was the last one so the house is sealed. Unless Sirius named an heir which I know he didn't, you have to get the Malfoys to get you in. You cannot ask Andromeda since she was disowned so even Tonks cannot get in. So you can't get inside." ,Remus explained calmly.

The group looked defeated. One by one they left. Until Remus, Albus and Molly were the only people left. "If you manage a new headquarter please inform me.", Remus said and apparated a few blocks away to avoid suspicions. A dark look passed between Albus and Molly. Then they left. Once the coast was clear Remus went inside.


	4. Cheating Death

**Thanks For all the Reviews. Its my first Fanfiction. I'll do my best to write a nice story. please forgive me if there was some mistake or you did not like the fanfic.**

The Change in Destiny

Chapter 4: Cheating Death

Harry breath a sigh of relief once they were inside the house. He did not know why but he had a grave feeling which said that if they were caught things would have not gone pretty.

Padfoot wriggled free from Harry's gasp and ran. "PADFOOT" Harry said. He followed Padfoot to the room he had entered. Harry just freeze as soon as he enters the room. There stood Sirius smiling at him, he looked the same. There wasn't a slightest hint to tell he was dead few days ago. He had long black hair and dark violet eyes, he was in mid thirties but war and Azkaban had aged him. Harry noticed that there was something different about him, his eyes held a new spark in them. It was like years of grief was lost, replaced by relief and happiness. The haunted expression it carried was removed.

Sirius took Harry in a bone cracking hug. They stood like that for minutes till Harry gasped and said "Sirius I need to breath." Sirius pulled back but a change in Harry's emerald green eyes scared him. His eyes showed sadness and grief that should not be experienced by someone of his age. Sirius's heart clenched at the fact that he was the reason for this pain.

"Well will you keeping staring at each other" Remus said as he entered the room. "How are you Harry? I hope the Durslye's didn't cause any trouble" Remus asked.

"I'm fine just a bit overwhelmed about everything" Harry replied. He turned to Sirius asked "Now tell me what happened and how you're alive? I also got a feeling that you're hiding from everyone especially Dumbledore".

Remus and Sirius had a silent conversation. Remus directed harry to a couch at the far end of the room. Sirius sat beside Harry while Remus took a set across them.

"Listen to me carefully. There is something you should know. It's very important and complicated. It's complete parallel to what we have believed all this while. It's unbelievable but it's the truth. Even I had trouble believing it. I want you to promise me that you'll think before doing anything. It's very dangerous and I don't want you to take any risk" Sirius said. With an encouraging nod from Remus Harry promised to think before acting.

"I believe you want to know how I'm alive. I myself had some trouble in believing it mainly because of who saved me" Sirius said. He turned to Remus for some help. "Well Harry it's kind of difficult to explain. It's very ancient magic and I had no idea on the presence of these. It will be best if... The one who saved Sirius tells it" Remus said.

"Who saved you Sirius?" Harry asked.

Sirius and Remus looked at each other, both expecting the others to respond. Remus sighed and hope he'll not get hexed. "Harry it may come as shock. He's the last person I ever expected to save Sirius. But miracles happen" Remus said. He took a deep breath and said "SEVERUS SNAPE".

Harry laughed thinking it was a joke. Each eyes met the others in the room which profounded that they were serious.

"Snape really?" harry asked astound.

"Yes Potter me" Snape said. They all turned to find Severus Snape standing at the door. He was wearing a dark green, long sleeved jumper and dark blue jeans. For a record his hair was clean, pulled back and tied with a dark green ribbon. Harry was shocked and his jaw hit the floor.

"Close your mouth Potter, you may catch a fly" Severus said and took a seat beside Remus.

"If you have your Godfather back you have to thank Lucius Malfoy. He showed the memory of what happened at the ministry." Severus said. "What do you know about the veil Potter?".

"Nothing" Harry replied.

"Long back when there were very few ways to punish criminals, Dementors were not yet there to guard the prison, people were skilled in wandless magic. Any wards or spell used to lock the wizards were useless. Then some unknown wizard created the veil. It is like a door between the living world and the place where the dead go. People who committed crimes were sent through the veil to the other world but could not come back unless a specific ritual was performed. As it was against nature because alive people can't live with the lifeless. So wizards who were sent through the veil were neither dead nor alive. They lived a cursed life where they could not live nor die. If I'm correct you heard voices coming from the veil" Severus asked. With a nod from Harry he continued "They were the cursed people begging to save them. As dementors were created, the veil was forgotten. It became just an ancient artefact. If someone was proved innocent then a special ritual was performed to bring them back. It requires two people and one of them should hold a blood relation with the victim. I and Narcissa Malfoy performed the ritual. Cissa gave three drops of blood as a sacrifice to the vile and pleaded the veil to send back Sirius. I drew the runes required around the veil and said the spells while Cissa gave the sacrifice. This is how we saved Black" Severus said.

Harry was in deep thought. Severus knew this was not good. He had expected something like this. So he replied even before the question was out of Harry's mouth. "I'm sorry Harry but you can't bring back your parents. The ritual was to bring back only the cursed people not the dead ones. Your parents were killed by the killing curse. But Sirius was hit with a stunner not the killing curse" he explained.

Tears threatened to fall but Harry caught hold of his emotion and asked "so what do we do next."

"I don't know what black did with his will cause no one was able to open it. The Goblin said only the one who can open is you. Albus wants' me to escort you to Gringgotts. So be ready, I'll pick you up at 12" Snape replied.

"But Sirius is alive then how come his will is ...?" Harry asked confused.

"Yes Harry I'm alive but Dumbledore doesn't know about it. If the will is not read he'll get suspicious. As for what is in the will you'll get to no tomorrow. Where's the fun if I tell you the surprise" Sirius replied.

"Harry there is a lot of things we need to do, that to without catching Dumbledore's attention. After all these I don't trust him. I have an instinct that he is using us. So from now no we'll do as we like. The first and foremost we have to get you out of Dursley's official and make sure someone we trust gets your custody" Remus said.

Harry debated whether he has to tell them about his encounter with voldemort or not. He almost decided against but lost his internal battle and repeated everything Voldemort had said and also the things that confused him.

"Your right Harry even I find something fishy. We'll discuss that later but first we'll have to contact Ron..." Remus said but was cut-off in the middle by Harry.

"No not Ron" Harry said. Form the confused look he told them about his overhearing at the hospital wing.

Sirius couldn't take it anymore. He just hugged Harry. He knew what the boy was going through after all he had gone through the same thing. He had firsthand experience with the hurt felt by betrayal and Azkaban had not helped with the situation. The loud grumbling of Harry's stomach said that the Dursleys had again kept him hungry. After bidding good bye to Snape Sirius took harry to the kitchen to feed him.

Snape was just about to leave when Remus stopped him.

"Not that I hate the change, but why do you have second opinion about Harry" Remus asked.

A feeling of guilt crossed Snape. "When Potter was about to start Hogwarts, Albus said that the boy was a spoiled rich brat. It was enough to fuel my grudges against James and continue it with Harry. I was so blind that I never realised how actual harry Potter was" he replied.

"Then what made you change?"

"During occlumency classes I realised potters' childhood was not a joy ride just like mine. Albus had lied. He was not only James Potter son but also Lilly Potter's. I had promised Lilly that I'll look after Harry if anything happened to her. I failed to keep the promise but I'll try my best of it. I may hate James Potter but Lilly is more important than some school grudge."

Severus bid good night and left.

He knew this was the beginning for the Change in Destiny of one Harry James Potter.

**Next chapter we'll get to know what surprise Sirius has up his sleeves. who will get Harry's custody and how will Dumbledore react to it.**


	5. The Will

The Change in Destiny

Chapter 5:- The Will

Sirius was in the kitchen preparing breakfast but his mind was elsewhere. His mind was on a certain woman who had captured his heart at the first sight. He had desired her for almost 7 years. He was about to propose on her 17th birthday but he had done something stupid and they had a fight, he hadn't talked to her after that and all of this had happened because she did not believe Dumbledore. Now he needed her help, he knew if anyone can make Dumbledore eat his shoe it was her. He had owled her telling everything that was happening and things that he had discovered, he was sure that she would help him, they may not have talked for all these years but one of the things he had loved about her was her kindness, she had the heart to forgive people who made mistakes. He had given her a very important role in his will; he knew she'll finish the task at any cost.

Harry entered the kitchen to be greeted with the smell of breakfast ."Good Morning Sirius.", he said helping himself with some bacon and egg. "Good morning Harry. Did you sleep well?" Just then Remus entered the kitchen greeting them.

"You better get ready Harry. It's almost 11:00, Snape will be here anytime", Sirius said.

"I'll finish my breakfast and get ready", Harry replied. He finished his breakfast and went upstairs to get ready. He was waiting in the living room. It was 11:40 and Remus had already left to avoid suspicion, Sirius was with Harry advising him on how to behave with goblins.

"Goblins are proud creatures. Pride and money are the two important aspects of their life. Any wizard who remembers this will have no problem with them. They are also known to do honest business so don't try to cheat them. Most of the magical community treat them just like they treat house-elfs which is why they hate us and they do their best to destroy us. By fair business and respect towards them we can be their friends. James and I befriended them that is why they don't care whether I'm an escaped convict or not. They mind only their business and I did not do anything to harm it. The ministry doesn't even know that I'm withdrawing money from my account on regular basis because they tried to cheat the goblins long back, that's why they don't help them in any of their investigations. Goblins know that I'm alive but they agreed to read my will. There are two reasons for this ,one is that I'm their friend and the other is that for some reason they hate Albus Dumbledore. I don't know why but they want to take revenge on Albus. Be careful and stay out of trouble, stay either with Remus or Snape, don't go alone anywhere" Sirius said.

Exactly at 12:00 Snape arrived and escorted Harry to Gringotts. Harry was informed that the procedure will start at 12:30. He followed Snape into a room. He was greeted by Remus. Harry noticed his surrounding, they were in a huge room, there was a desk at the end of the room, five goblins were sitting behind it, in front of them there were three chairs also occupied by goblins, behind them there were two more chairs which were empty. Towards the left and right were some more chairs which were all empty. At the end of the room stood Albus with some people who looked like ministry officials. All of a sudden he found himself in a bone cracking hug, he felt like the person was trying to choke him. When he was released he found himself in the company of the Weasleys. Molly was fussing over him as usual "Harry dear how you are? You're looking so thin, we can go to the Burrow after this and I'll feed you. We would have gone to the headquarters but Sirius did something to it and we cannot get in" she said in an overly sweet tone. Harry just wanted to tell her to fuck off. "Hey mate", greeted Ron. "Hey" Harry replied "Where are the twins and the others?". "Why will they be here Harry they don't have anything to do with this.", Molly replied. " And what do you have to do with this, you spent the last year fighting with him and trying to keep him away from me" said Harry before he could stop himself, Molly looked like someone had slapped her. Just then he found himself attacked by strong smell of mud and fresh grass and he found himself in some dazed state, "Hello Harry" said Ginny . She was too clingy for him and somehow her perfume was having some effect on him which was kind of forcing him to come close to her, he never liked the smell of mud and fresh grass , he liked old things and dampness not fresh things and openness. Something was wrong, he looked around but did not find Remus. Snape was standing at the other end with the Malfoys. He made his way towards them.

Lucius Malfoy was standing at one end talking to Severus about everything Sirius had said. He had a pale pointed face, long blond hair and grey eyes. His son Draco was a splitting image of him just that he had short blond hair and his eyes were darker shades of grey. Narcissa Malfoy was a beautiful women, she had long black hair and dark violet eyes. Draco was listening to his father and godfather talk about the canary ball. After Sirius was brought out of the veil he was unconscious for almost two days, first thing he said when he woke up was, " I am going to kill that old coot." Draco was shocked to learn that the canary ball had used imperius curse on Sirius for all these years. Just then he felt a strong hand grab his arm, he turned to see Potter trying to steady himself, and he looked dazed. "Are you alright Harry?", asked Severus , Harry was just about to answer when a high pitched voice from behind cried "HARRY!". He turned to see Weasley and Weaslette standing behind him. "Why are you holding ferret's hand mate?", asked Weasley . Harry removed his hand but couldn't stand straight ."Nothing", he replied. "What are you doing here?" , asked Weaslette coming towards them. Potter quickly shoved Severus out of the way and stood between Lucius and Cissa. 'If you ask me, Potter is trying to get rid of the Weasleys' Draco thought. "I wanted to ask Professor Snape few questions" replied Harry "Why are there so many goblins here?"

"Because Mr Potter the Blacks is the noble and most ancient house in the wizarding world" replied Lucius. "The five goblins behind the desk are the ones who will read the wills. First two will concern money, third one is the will concerning his seat in Wizengamot, next one is about the Black heir and the last one is about your guardianship. Each goblin will read one will. The one in front of them is the goblin in charge of Black family vault and the other two are the ones who authorised the will.", he explained.

Just then one of the goblins called for their attention. "We are here to witness the will of Lord Black. Family members please take seats to my left, ministry officials in front of me and others to the right."

Albus, Remus, Severus and Molly took the seats to the right. Harry moved towards his seat, Ginny followed him. There were four seats, Malfoys had occupied three of them, Harry took the last seat. "Get up Malfoy", said Ginny. Draco raised an eyebrow and asked "Why should I Weasley? This place is for family members." "As if you knew Siri", she said with a smug look "Harry look the ferret is not giving me my place. You should show him his place". Harry was getting a head ache because of her perfume. " Ginny why are you creating havoc? He is right, only family members can sit here, if you want a seat go to the other side and don't call him Siri it's lame!",replied Harry irritated. She huffed and left.

A goblin stood up and said "Mr Potter, Lord Black has left you a letter. You have to read the letter so we can open the will." He handed the letter to Harry.

'Dear Harry

Only you can read this letter. Let me get to the point you have to tell the same line James and I used to tell to raid the Hogwarts kitchen without getting caught. Now let's start kicking some bad ass

Yours

Sirius.'

'As I remember there is no password to enter the kitchen and without getting caught...**Marauder's Map!**" He pointed his wand at the will and said, 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' under his breath. He returned the will to the goblins and took his seat.

The first goblin stood up and said, "I'll be reading the will concerning personal money of Lord Black."

'I Lord Sirius Orion Black, being of sound mind and body bequeath the following:

I name Remus John Lupin as the owner of half of the money in my personal account and Remus if you like Dora just ask her out.

I name Hermione Granger as the owner of the remaining money in my personal account.'

Albus was very confused. 'When did Black change his will? At least I'll be able to convince Harry that his godfather did not love him, it'll help my plans', he thought.

The next goblin stood. "I'll be reading the will concerning money Lord Black got from his family account", he said.

'I Lord Sirius Orion Black, being of sound mind and body bequeath the following:

I name Nymphadora Tonks as the owner of one quarter of the money in my family account. If Remus doesn't ask you out just drag him to a nearby room and then you know what to do.

I name Draco Malfoy as the owner of one quarter of the money in my family account. Sorry I couldn't meet you personally and I hope you got your mother's brains.

I name Harry Potter as the owner of the remaining money in my family account.'

Albus was concerned, he didn't care about money, he had a lot of money rotting in his vault. But Black had changed two of his wills without his knowledge and that too he left money to some death eater scum.

"That is my money! That slimy git stole my money! Why will Sirius give his money to you?", shouted Ron.

"That's because he is my uncle not yours." ,Malfoy replied coolly.

Ron sent a blasting curse toward Malfoy but Harry was on his feet and shouted "Protego", the curse deflected and hit the wall. Snape put a body bind curse on Ron before he could cast more spells. "Thank you Potter.", Malfoy said.

Once everything was alright the third goblin stood up ."I'll be reading the will concerning the Black family seat in Wizengamot"

I Lord Sirius Orion Black, being of sound mind and body bequeath the following:

I lord Black as the head of the noble and most ancient family of Black declare the Tonks family as the members of the Black family by blood. I also void the removal of Andromeda Tonks from the Black family line and welcome her back.

I Lord Black as the head of the noble and most ancient family of Black void the marriage between Bellatrix Lestrange and Rodolphus Lestrange and claim the Lestrange vault as a compensation for the money given as dowry during their marriage which came from the Black vault.

I Lord Black as the head of the noble and most ancient family of Black disown Bellatrix Black and outcast her from Black family.

[This if for Andy and Cissa. They were my favourite in our whole mad family and dear old Bella always tortured them, used them as puppets for her dark arts practice. I wanted to kill her for that and Cissa I never said you this but I love you, you were the younger sister I always desired for. I'm sorry for hurting you. Take care.]

I Lord Black as the head of the noble and most ancient family of Black name Draco Lucius Malfoy as the heir for the Black family seat in Wizengamot and name Andromeda Tonks as his proxy till he comes of age.'

'This is the best prank I've ever seen.' ,Harry thought. Next to him Cissa was crying , Lucius was trying to comfort her along with Draco who was kneeling in front of her. He was also crying. Looking at him Harry taught that he looked Cute!? He mentally kicked himself and turned his attention to others. Dumbledore was furious, Snape had a smug look, Remus had the infamous Marauder's grin, Molly was shouting but someone had silenced her and Ginny was looking as if she had swallowed poison. 'Did they think that Sirius would give his seat to the them (Weasleys)?',Harry thought.

The fourth goblin stood up and said, "I'll be reading the will concerning the lordship of Black family"

'I Lord Sirius Orion Black, being of sound mind and body bequeath the following:

'I Lord Black as the head of the noble and most ancient family of Black name Draco Lucius Malfoy as the next heir of the Black family and Lucius Malfoy as his proxy till he comes of age.

Any other lordship the Black family has will go to Nymphadora Tonks.'

"Soon to be death eater cannot be a Black Heir.", Albus roared. "Why would Sirius make a death eater scum as his heir?"

"Well Dumbledore you forgot Sirius was Dark Lord's right hand and the scum you mentioned is his nephew. Your getting old, you forgot your own testimony that Sirius was a Death Eater.", Lucius replied calmly.

Now Harry knew why they were Slytherins, sneaky gits, always know how to make gold even out of shit.

Remus was trying to control his laughter, Snape was on cloud nine, Molly was too shocked to tell anything and Ginny was weeping. Harry was happy to see Dumbledore beaten in his own game. He saw that Mrs Malfoy was still crying and Draco... let's not go there he thought.

The last goblin, the one Harry was waiting for stood ."I'll be reading the will concerning the guardianship of his god son Harry James Potter. Since his guardianship was not terminated officially anything written in his will is valid and no one can question it."

'I Lord Black, being of sound mind and body bequeath the following:

Harry's vault, business and other official things will be handled by Remus John Lupin.

Harry's educational needs and all matters related to it will be handled by his head of the house.

Albus Dumbledore should not be allowed to contact Harry at any cost including matter related to school work. If the need arises then he can talk to Harry only if his head of the house is present along with Remus or his guardian.

I Lord Sirius Orion Black give the custody of Harry James Potter to Aurora Sandy Lupin.

[Believe me Harry you'll like her and if you are thinking who she is,she is Remus's twin sister, the only girl who had managed to capture my heart. I made some stupid mistakes or else I would have married and had lots of kids with her. She'll love you and take care of you.]

The whole room was silent. No one had expected this. 'She was last seen at Potters' funeral. No one had seen or heard of her after that. Does this mean she is alive?' Lucius thought and he wished for once Black was right and Sandy was alive. He wanted his friend back. Remus was crying, Snape was shocked and happy, Cissa was crying harder and Draco had no clue why. Albus was scared? Molly looked like she was about to faint and Harry was confused.

'Who is she? Why didn't anyone tell me Remus had a twin? Sirius loved her and what mistakes was he talking about? Was she mum and dad's friend?' he thought.


	6. The Unique Reunion

The Change In Destiny

Chapter 6: Unique Reunion

Dumbledore's POV:

Dumbledore was livid. He did not know what to do, his carefully laid plans had failed. The love and care Sirius had towards his godson had won. Initially when Dumbledore had asked Sirius to name him as Harry's guardian, Sirius had refused, so he had tried hard to convince him, he had forced him, blackmailed him, ordered him, threatened him, pleaded and begged him but of no use, everything had failed. He had even let Molly get away with whatever she had planned as long as she kept Sirius away from Harry, he had done everything he could think of but it had no effect on Sirius who was adamant on his decision. Dumbledore had at last stuck to his final resort, the imperius curse. He knew that what he was doing was wrong but couldn't help it, he had to do it for the greater good. Even under the curse Sirius had refused to name him as the guardian so he had made him name Molly instead. He was so sure that his plans had worked, but whatever had happened hit him hard, his plans had backfired, now Harry was not under the control of someone he wanted and he also had no say in the boy's matters, hell he cannot even talk to the boy without anyone interfering, all of this had happened because he had gone against his better judgment, he had always know that using the curse on Sirius was a very bad idea but he could not help it because things were going out of his control.

Now the boy was under that brat's control, to be true to himself he was scared of Aurora, that axwound had spoilt his plan before, but not this time he thought. He knew that Harry would have been out of bounds if he had let her in his life that was why Dumbledore had made sure to keep her out of Harry's life but now she was given control. All those years back when she had disappeared he had thought that she was gone for good, he had wished that she would be dead, he still had hopes that she would not turn up to take the responsibility.

He did not understand why some of them did not get the point that he was the only one who could make Harry fulfil his destiny, if the boy was left free he would bring the downfall of the wizarding world, he knew what was best for the boy, only he knew how to stop the boy from becoming the next dark lord. He was the only one who knew what was best for the greater good, he had after all spent half of his life fighting dark lords and had defeated one of them.

He had to act now or else things would go out of his control.

**Normal POV:**

Making a quick course of action Albus approached the goblins and asked "When was this will made?"

"A day before Mr Black died" ,the goblin answered.

Albus cursed under his breath. It was all because of that stupid hag the ministry had sent to keep an eye on him or else he could have monitored Sirius's moves. He should somehow get Harry out of there and alone. If Aurora arrives his carefully laid planes would be destroyed.

He approached Harry " Well Harry my boy sorry about this but I must say I'm disappointed, I did not expect Sirius to name someone you don't know as your guardian, to tell the truth no one has seen her after your parents' death. You need not worry about this, I will take you to Hogwarts with me, there is some work we need to finish then I'll drop you off at the Burrow", he said with his eyes twinkling madly.

Harry did not know what to do; he did not want to go with the headmaster but for some reason he was not able to refuse him and the headmaster was right he did not know who Aurora was.

"Now Dumbledore it looks like you have lost your mind because of age. If I remember correctly you are not supposed to have any form of contract with Potter" Lucius said trying to stop the headmaster, he was secretly hoping that Sandy would come back.

"Even you know the rules Lucius, till the said guardian does not accept the responsibility the will is not under effect. I don't know what Black was thinking when he named Aurora Harry's guardian, she hasn't shown her face to any one in all these years, no one has even seen her and most importantly we don't even know whether she is alive or dead. I'm sure she is dead. If she comes back by some miracle then let's see what to do. I hope she is alive even if my experience says otherwise" Dumbledore replied.

Lucius was enraged, Cissa and Draco were trying to stop him from hexing the headmaster. Beside them Severus had to physically resist Remus who wanted to rip the old coot's throat. Molly and Ginny were trying to pull Harry out of the room and Dumbledore was trying to get away from the angry werewolf.

In midst of this chaos a soft but firm voice was heard

"Are you sure Dumbledore?"

Every movement in the room ceased as soon as the voice was heard. Everyone turned around to see the source of it. Someone was standing at the end of the room. It looked like no one had noticed her presence till then.

She looked like some goddess who had descended from heaven. She had a tall and slim figure, she resembled Remus in every way expect she had long sandy brown hair and dark brown eyes, she carried an air of confidence and superiority with her.

As soon as she approached the group she was tackled to ground by Remus who was crying shamelessly "You are back, you are back..." he kept on repeating, Dumbledore was reaching for his wand, Molly looked like she had seen a ghost, Ginny was frowning. At last Aurora was able to detangle Remus from her only to be pulled into a group hug by Lucius and Severus, they were holding her very tight as if scared that they would lose her again, Harry was shocked, he had seen Remus lose control of his emotions when he had met Sirius but Snape and Malfoy, he had never imagined them to be like that, they were supposed to be cold hearted bustards.

She smiled at them and said "Gentlemen as long as you don't straggle me I have some work to do. A charming boy is waiting for my introduction. Now if you will just excuse me for a moment I would like to talk to Harry privately."

Severus and Lucius stepped aside but Remus looked reluctant, a glare from Aurora he backed off. Molly hadn't yet snapped out from her shock, Dumbledore wisely stayed away but Ginny tried to follow them.

"Hey red head have you lost your way or did you just decide to snoop on us" Aurora asked.

Ginny tried to retort but was cut off by Molly.

Aurora took him to a far corner and performed the strongest muffiliato she knew.

She turned towards Harry; she was crying but still looked happy. She kissed him on his forehead and ruffled his hair, "Hey kiddo, I'm Aurora Sandy Lupin, but you can call me Sandy, you don't know me since you were just a tiny bundle when I last saw you. I always wanted to meet you but had some important work to do and also Dumbledore had made sure that I couldn't contact you. I'm sorry about that", she said "You have her eyes but you look like that idiot, never in seven heavens did I think there will be a day when someone looking like James will act like Lily!" she hugged him. After some time she let go of him.

"Were you Sirius's girlfriend?" Harry asked.

"I am his girlfriend, but you know that mutt, he leaps into the pit before he thinks. He said things that hurt me and Remus sided with him so I was pissed off and we broke up. I have not talked to them till now. Yes I was angry with Sirius, but a lot of things have happened in these 15 years, I forgave him long back, I never stopped loving him, I do plan to become his girlfriend again and it's a secrete between you and me, I want to piss him off first" ,she replied and winked at him. "I know you are confused Harry and from the looks I got, the mutt did not tell anything I guess. Don't worry once we are out of here I will tell everything about who I am to what I was doing all these years. From the will you already know that I was his girlfriend, so now will you just trust me and come with me?" Aurora asked and extended her hand.

Harry did not know why but he wanted to trust her. He looked into her eyes and saw love in them, something no one had shown him till then, her eyes promised love, happiness, trust and other things he had never felt. He had just met her for few minutes and instantly had fallen in love with her. He felt Sirius had done the right thing and wanted to be with her. She had given him many things in those few minutes that no one had been able to give him in all these years. He took her hand and embraced her while tears rolled from his eyes.

"Now dear don't worry, I'm here and everything will be alright. Now let's go before Sirius sends a search party, he will be pacing like a caged animal by now."

She removed the charm, approached Dumbledore and said "You haven't changed much in all these years, have you Dumbledore? Always trying to be the good charming hero. Last time when I saw you, you wanted to correct Voldemort , give him second chance, now you are making Harry's childhood miserable, all this for greater good? Have you finished playing puppet with Minister and your order members that you have switched to small kids now? You of all people know that Harry doesn't like to stay with Petunia. Anyways you have heard the will, you are not allowed to contact Harry in any way so you can leave, the door is that way and Harry will be coming with me".

"You cannot talk to the headmaster that way" Molly shouted "and Harry is coming to the Burrow with me."

"Well if it isn't Molly Weasley, you have grown a bit from the last time I saw you, looks like having seven children has reduced your work. Do tell me what you are doing here. As much as I remember and mind you I'm good at it, you always hated Lily, something about stealing your love or was it husband or was it the title of Lady Potter and you also hated James for cheating on you and you absolutely loathed Sirius for supporting James and calling you a gold digging bitch. So you must not be concerned about any of these." Aurora said.

"I may have not liked them but I don't keep grudge against dead people. Harry and my daughter Ginny love each other so I am ready to sacrifice my feelings for their sake." Molly said faking a sob.

But Aurora just raised an eyebrow and said " Is it so but he seems to be interested in someone else. In fact he is, from a long time, sneaking glances at a certain bloke next to him."

Harry tried his best to fight the blush threatening to rise on his cheeks. It was true, Harry did have a hard time to ignore the blond sitting next to him, and it was doing some weird things in his stomach. Draco was gazing at him intently and Harry felt his cheeks burn under his gaze and butterflies rising in his stomach and his heart flattered. He was nudged out of his world by a voice and he winced at its pitch.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HARRY IS MINE ONLY MINE. Now Harry won't look at anyone other than me." Ginny shouted and flushed a seducing smile at Harry.

Harry felt like puking and backed away taking shelter between Aurora and Draco. He blushed again and turned towards Aurora.

Molly thought she had to act now before the stupid girl just spilled their plans, sometimes she wondered where the girl got her brain from, must be her father's.

She quietly pushed Ginny behind and said "Harry and my son Ron are best mates, my poor Ronnekines always risks his life to save Harry's and Harry likes to stay with us now don't you Harry? He will come with us." Molly replied.

Harry gulped he did not want to spend rest of his summer with Ginny practically glued to him especially now he knew he was a gay. The stars were on his side as Aurora said

"If you are so sure then we'll just ask Harry where he wants to go."

Every eye turned towards Harry.

He was silent for some time, it was now or never and then said "I want to go with Aurora".

This shocked everyone, Aurora smiled at him fondly, and ruffled his hair but the Weasleys had other plans.

"Now Harry dear you don't even know her, she will hurt you, you cannot trust her" Molly said sweetly trying to pull him away from Aurora.

"It is not necessary that I should know her, Sirius trusted her and I trust Sirius" Harry replied irritated and tried to pull away.

"Harry don't you want to spend time with me?" Ginny said clinging to him "We'll have lot of fun" and tried to pull Harry towards the exit, Harry tried to push her away but he couldn't, he glared at her but she did not back off she actually tried to KISS HIM!

Harry practically gagged and turned towards Remus for help, Remus tried to help Harry but ended up in a wrestling match with Albus, Molly again tried to pull Harry but Aurora tripped her, she lost her balance and ended up on Lucius. Cissa did not take the fact that the blood traitor Weasley was on top of her husband kindly so she practically ripped Molly away from him and pushed her aside. Unfortunately Molly lost her balance again and went towards Snape. A pure look of horror crossed Severus's face who did not want to end crushed beneath a baby elephant and he didn't even have a wife to save him so he hurried out of the way only to bump into Aurora who had just managed to pull Ginny off Harry. Aurora ended up squashing Ginny.

Harry tried to step away but Ginny caught his shirt, he lost his balance and ended on something soft and something that smelled like old and damp things he loved. Harry shifted to see the source of the smell and was shocked to see himself in the arms of Draco Malfoy. He turned just in time to see Draco blushing. In the process of catching Harry, Ginny had successfully torn his shirt off. Harry was lying half naked on Draco Malfoy!

Harry lost his breath at the sight of the blond, Draco had a very hot body, his frame was lean and muscular, his hair was soft and Harry wanted to run his hand through them, his eyes had some magic in them that held Harry in his place, he wanted to drown in the depth of his grey eyes kissing him senselessly. He had not had a chance to look at the blond so carefully as he was busy either fighting with him or trying to avoid him and he had never been this close to him and also he had not known he was a gay till now. 'Oh fuck he is so handsome' Harry thought 'I just want to snog the daylight out of him, what was I doing all these years?' The mere sight of him was turning him on, he just groaned.

On the other hand Draco was having his own troubles, he was in heaven, he had Harry just where he wanted him, he had a crush on Harry for almost two years now, every time he saw Harry he just wanted to kiss him, his hands wanted to roam on their own accord on his smooth pale skin. Harry was almost naked in his arms over that he heard Harry groan. Draco lost his self control, there were rabbit's tap dancing in his stomach.

"You're so beautiful" Harry breathed out loud enough for Draco. Draco did not know what was happening, 'Did Harry just say that I am beautiful?' he thought. He held his breath when Harry leaned towards him, their lips where a breath apart when they were snapped out of it by someone clearing their throat.

They stepped away from each other as if they were burnt. Draco looked disappointed.

"Well then Harry you can come with me if you don't have any plans with a certain blonde." Aurora teased him breaking the awkward silence that had all of a sudden descended in the room.

Harry blushed scarlet "No I'm coming with you." he mumbled.

"Harry what will you do with her? You can come with us, and we can play quidditch and go shopping in Diagon Alley. I'll even tolerate Granger if you want." Ginny said.

"Yes Harry dear, I'll cook some cake for your birthday and think about my poor Ronnikines, he needs help to do his homework" Molly said.

Now Aurora was getting pissed off and it was not a good sign, she had to get out of here before she snapped. She searched for the closest exit.

Dumbledore was blocking the nearest exit and the Weasleys except Ron were blocking Harry , next to the Weasleys was Severus , standing there looking irritated ' hasn't changed much now has he' Aurora thought 'the situation is going out of control, I have to take Harry out of here before the Weasleys can change his mind'.

"Bonjour camarades, sa fait longtemps, il ya beaucoup à dire, mais plus tard, maintenant j'ai besoin pour obtenir le garçon d'ici avant que des gouttes de citron fait quelque chose de louche, nous allons rencontrer ce soir à la cachette du cabot. Pouvez-vous faire juste me faire une faveur et utilisez le sort aveuglant sur goutte de citron et les ses alliés afin que nous puissions sortir d'ici. Je te retrouve plus tard et s'il vous plaît pardonnez-moi. Je t'aime " Aurora said to Lucius looking somewhere else.

[Hello friends, it's been a long time, there is much to say but later, now I need to get the lad out of here before lemon drops does something fishy, we will meet tonight at the mutt's hideout. Can you just do me a favour and use the blinding spell on lemon drop and his allies so that we can get out of here. I'll see you later and please forgive me. I love you]

Lucius acknowledge her slightly and said 'caeci lumos' silently pointing his wand towards Albus and Weasleys. A blinding light shoot out of his wand towards them and they were unable to see. Aurora thanked him quickly and caught Harry's hand and pulled him out of the room, Remus followed them.

"Let's get the hell out of here before lemon drop decides to follow us." Aurora said.

They apparated to a park near Grimmauld place.

Remus quickly let them into the house where they found Sirius pacing, Aurora just shook her head 'I think no one has changed much'. Sirius hadn't noticed them until Aurora said, "You'll just wear the floor with all you're pacing."

**At Grimmauld Place:**

It had been a long time since Harry had left, Sirius was worried, there were a lot of things that could have gone wrong, Albus could have sealed his will just like the way he had sealed James's. Harry might be upset about his choice of guardian- after all the boy doesn't even know that Remus has a sister and mainly she might never show up. Yes he had written to her but still she might decide not to forgive him ,hell she might not have received the letter at all!

When he had asked Remus about her he had confessed that he didn't know where she was, she had not contacted him nor had she replied to any of his letters .

15 years before, she had cut off Remus from her life after their break up because Remus had sided with Sirius but she was in touch with Snape and Malfoy, so Sirius had asked them but even they had not heard from her for a very long time. No one had even had a glimpse of her in all these years, they had last seen her at James and Lily's funeral.

He still remembers the day they broke up. How could he forget it? It was the second worst day of his life, if he had just trusted her...

"Sirius please listen to me don't join the order" Aurora had pleaded with him as usual.

"Now Aura you are just scared nothing will happen to me" Sirius had replied tired of that conversation. It had been a very important day and he did not want to start it with an argument.

"I'm not scared it's just that I don't trust Dumbledore, he is just using you". She wanted to tell him this from a long time but knew he would not believe her. But the argument had reached its limits, she would not let him do anything stupid even if he was angry with her.

"We'll let him use us if it will kill Voldemort" Sirius had argued. He was fed up of that conversation, he had a feeling that Dumbledore was right about her.

Few days before Albus had confessed with Sirius that he had suspicion that Aurora was a death eater.

"Are you dumb, what will you get by joining him, Dumbledore is behind fame and power just like Voldemort. Please listen to me he will get you killed .You will not join him if you love me. Just because your idiot friend James believes him blindly does not mean you have to follow him. Severus was right you just follow James like a dog, I will not let you do this and you will not join Dumbledore if you love me.", she had pleaded.

Sirius had had enough, he was then sure that Albus was right about her ,she was a death eater. He was angry.( How dare she blames James? Over that she spends most of her time with Snape and Malfoy doing God knows what! How dare she cheats me?)

"I knew you will say it, Dumbledore was right you are just like the rest of the Slytherines, you are a death eater ,aren't you? just like your play time buddies Snape and Malfoy. I never thought you will stoop this low. You spend half of your time doing those scums' biding and rest of the time fu….."

SLAP…. Tears had rolling down her face she couldn't take that anymore.( Did he think I will cheat on him? Did he not believe me? Am I nothing in front of Dumbledore? )

She wanted answers, if he really believed Dumbledore then she was not wasting her time on him, she had better things to do than being an old man's puppet.

"Enough Sirius. You say you love me and you won't trust me? Do you really think I'll cheat on you? You believe Dumbledore more than me?" She had rolled here left sleeve and had said "Look do you really think I'm a death eater? Is that all I am for you, just a lying whore. Do you really love me or did you just want to sleep with me and use me because Dumbledore said it was for the greater good? "

Sirius had remained silent. He had trusted Dumbledore not some snake.( all of them were the same, assholes who followed the manic.)he had thought.

"You have a choice Sirius either you trust Dumbledore or me. You have to choose it's me or him." Aurora had said.

Sirius had not even thought for a second before replying, he was angry and was disgusted that he was in love with her.

"You can leave. Don't show me your face again. This is the end of us." Sirius had replied his face showing pure hatred and loathing.

It had been the worst day of his life, he had prepared everything to propose to her but the matter of him joining the order had come up as usual, they had fought over that topic a lot of time but that day it had ended their relationship.

Remus had sided with him because he thought the same, they both knew that Malfoy and Snape were death eaters and she was hanging around with them and spending a lot of time with them. When they asked her about it she either made excuses or refused to talk about it.

It was some months after their break up did he get to know that Snape and Malfoy were spies for the order and Aurora had initially tried to talk them out of it but they had refused. It was too late to mend things, Sirius had tried to fix things over at James' and Lily's wedding but Aurora had not turned up. She was doing her best to avoid him. It was on Harry's 1st birthday they had met again but she had not talked to him, she had left a soon as he tried to talk to her.

Sirius was brought out of his train of thoughts when he heard "You'll just wear the floor with all you're pacing".

'Am I dreaming?' It was the same voice he wanted to hear from such a long time, it was the same voice that had kept him sane in Azkaban and the same that had helped him to escape Azkaban.

He turned around to see the love of his life standing a few feet away from him, she hadn't changed a bit, and she was the same girl who had his heart on the first sight. She came and stood in front of him, she was smiling, her eyes were overflowing with tears, and her eyes held love, loneliness and hurt just like his. 'So she still loves me and misses me. What did I do to get so much happiness?' he thought.

"Aurora" was all he was about to say before she stopped him, swiping her hair back from her face with one hand as she kisses him sloppily, sliding her tongue along his bottom lip.

He closed his eyes and leant in her touch, he had missed her touch and the way they felt together as a piece of puzzle whenever they kissed .

He kissed his way along her jaw line, her hair tickled his face and he moved downwards to her neck and then to her collarbone, then they was rudely interrupted by someone.

Aurora looked annoyed and Sirius turned around to scold the person who had had the guts to interrupt them only to find Harry blushing wishing that he was anywhere but there.

What shocked Sirius was the look on Remus's face as he was glaring at Aurora. He looked enraged, his eyes were burning with anger, hurt and sadness.

"As much as I hate to break it there are things that have to be discussed. There are a lot of things you have to explain Aurora Sandy Lupin, so shall we start."

Aurora gulped, Remus calls her by her full name only when she was in trouble, he had called her like that long time back when they were in their fourth year ,when she along with Severus and Lucius had tried to slip love potion into McGonagall's drink. She prayed Merlin that she was not in for some heavy lecture or scolding.


	7. Finding Immortality

The Change In Destiny

Chapter 7: Finding Immortality

Harry, Remus and Sirius were in the living room waiting for Aurora to return with the slimy Slytherines. It had taken forever to get Remus under control. He had shouted, scolded, ranted, murmured, cried before hugging the life out of Aurora, but he had forgiven her in the end. Now she was about to tell them the reason for her disappearance and she wanted her best friends to be present at the time, so she had gone to get them.

The sound of the front door open was heard.

Harry almost had a heart attack when Snape entered the room looking gleeful, behind him were Lucius and Narcissa who looked amused and last came Draco and Aurora who were rather confused.

"Care to share the joke with us?" Sirius asked Snape.

Severus tried to speak but fell into a fitful laugh, he was followed by Lucius. Sirius turned towards Cissa for an explanation.

"Dear Bella had a very funny reaction about the will. It was very amusing to see her rant in front of The Dark Lord, at last The Dark Lord had to stun her and magically bind her when his crucios didn't work. The Dark Lord's reaction was also similar, he was happy that you gave the Black seat to the Malfoys, but he tried and failed in hiding that he was scared of Aurora returning and that Harry being under her care. He was trying very hard to pull Harry towards the dark side especially after he crucioed Bella. Looks like even the Dark Lord is kind a scared of you." Cissa replied laughing.

Remus and Sirius started chuckling till Aurora smacked them.

Aurora cleared her throat "Now let's go for the more important matters. A... well it all started at Lily and James's funeral, I saw Dumbledore staring at one of the graves in Godric Hollow, he was eyeing his wand and the grave with an evil smile, after he left I saw the name Ignotus Peverell, I kind of remembered reading the same name somewhere and I felt it as something important so I started searching and I finally found it, guess my shock when I found the name in The Tales Of Beedle The Bard"

"The Tale Of The Three Brothers!" Draco said immediately.

"You're right." Aurora replied

"Tales of what?" Harry asked.

"The Tale Of The Three Brothers, it's kind of a fairy tale in the wizarding world." Remus explained.

"Can you tell me the story?"Harry asked.

Everyone turned towards Draco for explanation.

"Alright alright I'll tell. There were once three brothers

Antioch Peverell, the eldest brother, Cadmus Peverell, the middle one, Ignotus Peverell, the youngest.

They were travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across.

However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure. It was Death and Death spoke to them. He was angry that he had been cheated out of three new victims, for travellers usually drowned in the river. But

Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers upon their magic, and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him.

The oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So Death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, and gave it to the oldest brother.

The second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to recall others from Death. So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, and told him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead.

Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death. So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility. Then Death stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way and they did so, talking with wonder of the adventure they had and admiring Death's gifts.

In due course the brothers separated, each for his own destination.

The first brother travelled on for a week or more, and reaching a distant village, he sought out a fellow wizard with whom he had a quarrel. Naturally, with the Elder Wand as his weapon, he could not fail to win the duel that followed. Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor, the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he had snatched from Death himself, and of how it made him invincible.

That very night, another wizard crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden, upon his bed. The thief took the wand and, for good measure, slit the oldest brother's throat. So Death took the first brother for his own.

Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand. To his amazement and his delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry before her untimely death appeared at once before him. Yet she was silent and cold, separated from him as though by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Finally, the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as truly to join her. So Death took the second brother for his own.

But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly and as equals, they departed this life."

The room was silent, each thinking of a connection between the story and Dumbledore.

"So you think the cloak I have is the one given by Death?" Harry asked.

"I don't think so I know it's the same one." Aurora replied. Everyone looked at her shocked. She continued "The three artefacts are called Deathly Hallows, I researched about them for long and I was able to confirm that they do exit. I had James's clock with me; Dumbledore had tried slipping it with him but was not able to do it under Mad-Eye's watch. While I went on trying to find the truth about the Hallows I had the cloak with me, I met many experts who were able to confirm that this cloak was very different from others. It matches the description of Death's Invisibility cloak; I had the cloak with me till Harry's first year."

"You were the one who sent it!" Harry said happily.

"Yes, I knew James would have done the same thing." she replied foundly "I searched a lot of places for the stone but was not able to find it. The wand's story was a bit 's mentioned as the Death wand throughout the history, a person has to kill it's master to win the wand so the name and it was last seen with..." Aurora said and took out an old torn scroll. In it were the names of all the owners of the wand and the place where they lived, in the last was the name Gellert Grindelwald.

"So the wand now belongs to Dumbledore and he wants all the Hallows?" Severus asked.

"Yes the wand Dumbledore has is the Elder Wand, whoever owns the Deathly Hallows becomes the master of death but he doesn't want to waste his time searching for the Hallows, he might get the cloak and the wand but no one knows where the stone is."

"So what were you trying to do?" Remus asked.

"While I was researching about the Hallows it came to my attention that one person was trying to own all the Hallows because he wanted to become immortal."

"Who was it?" Sirius asked.

"Voldemort"

"Well isn't it great that he didn't find them?" Harry asked.

Aurora got up and sat next to Harry. She looked reluctant to speak.

"It doesn't matter whether he got the Hallows or not, he found another way to become immortal." She said.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Before I tell about them Harry I want you to promise me that you will listen to me very carefully and you are not to blame yourself."Harry promised.

"What did he do Sandy?" Lucius asked.

She looked at him and then Sirius and said "Horcrux".

Sirius, Lucius and Cissa looked shocked and scared.

Aurora didn't explain anything further, it was like a forbidden subject and they didn't want to talk about it.

"What is it?" Severus asked after sometime.

"It's Dark magic." Sirius said.

"We got that but what does it do?" Remus asked.

" It makes you immortal." Lucius said.

"How?" Severus asked.

"By committing murder." Aurora replied gravely "You have to commit a cold blooded murder. When you kill an innocent it tears your soul apart, by dark magic you can separate that part of your soul from your body and store it in a separate container which harbours your soul to earth if your body is destroyed. If you have to kill a person than you have to destroy his whole soul, in this case, pieces of his soul."

Remus was about to ask something but Aurora stopped him; only Sirius was able to catch them.

"So I have to destroy all his Horcrux to defeat him?" Harry asked.

"Yes you have to, I know how many are there and what some of them are, you cannot defeat him before we find and destroy all of them, but first we have to find out the real prophecy." Aurora replied.

"The one about me and Voldemort was destroyed." Harry said.

"Real prophecy can never be destroyed. If the orb breaks it gets restored in its original place 24 hours later and it is something Voldemort nor Dumbledore knows, it's a fact known only by true sear."

"You are a true sear!" Draco asked amazed.

"Yes I am, it's the reason why I said the prophecy Dumbledore gave James was an incomplete one or a duplicate." Aurora said looking at Remus and Sirius. They looked ashamed. "We'll get the real one before you go to Hogwarts. I'm sure you'll arrange it for us." she asked Lucius.

"Yes I'll arrange it"

"Now Harry why don't you take Draco with you and finish your home work. I'll prepare dinner by that time" Aurora said.

Harry went to his room followed by a blushing Draco.

Sirius turned towards Aurora and said "There's something you're hiding"

"Don't you want to know how I got to know about the Horcrux?"

"Yes I wanted to ask about it but you stopped me." Remus said.

Aurora was silent for some time when Sirius and Remus tried to make her speak she started crying. Severus was worried, she normally doesn't cry, if she did something was really wrong.

Lucius held her and tried to calm her.

"After the funeral I went to privet drive to see Harry. I ...sensed dark magic in his scar. Iiiii checked it and saw aaaa... piece of someone's soul residing in him, it belonged to... Voldemort."

...

"ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME THAT HARRY IS A HORCRUX" Sirius shouted.

"Yes he is, when Lily sacrificed herself to protect Harry, she did an ancient magic called " tueri vitam meam" which means protect with my life, so the killing curse sent by Voldemort rebounded on him, killing him but because of his horcrux he became a spirit. When he killed Lily he killed an innocent, a mother who wanted to protect her son, so his soul was torn and the force of the killing curse released two parts of soul, one which had his conscious and other which did not. He did not realise about his soul splitting, the part with his conscious left to posses some other living thing but the one without it occupied the closest living thing which was Harry."

"So Harry is a Horcrux and if we have to get rid of Voldemort we have to kill Ha..." Severus asked.

"No we don't have to. I have found a way to transfer Voldemort's soul from Harry's body to another object" Aurora said. Everyone looked relieved.

"The process will hurt him, very badly, so I'll not be doing it till all his Horcruxs are destroyed, it will somewhat reduce his pain."

"How many are there?" Sirius asked.

"I think so six... excluding Harry, one of it is already destroyed."

"Which?" Severus asked.

"His diary, Harry destroyed it in his second year"

"Ah... the one which I gave the Weasley girl?" Lucius asked.

"Yes the same one. Why did you give it to her in the first place?"

"Orders from him long before he disappeared." Lucius said.

"Why do you think I spent half of my life teaching idiotic brats?" Severus said.

"OH I got it. One thing, I don't want Harry to know about him being a Horcrux, we'll tell him when it's time."

"But how can you say six of them are there, he could have made more" Sirius said.

"We'll I had no idea he had made Horcrux other than Harry. It was when I met Professor Slughorn did I get to know about them. Slughorn was his head of the house and it was from him did he learn about Hocrucx. He explicitly said that Voldemort has a strange attraction to ancient artifact especially one that belonged to the founders and number 7. He remember's Voldemort asking him can anyone split there soul 7 times or can they make 7 Horcrux again and again, so its my guess he made 7 of them..."

When all of a sudden the sound of front door opening was heard, followed by someone tripping on something and Mrs Black's screams.

Sirius and Remus looked at each other and said "TONKS?"


	8. The Slytherine Locket

**The Change In Destiny**

**Chapter 8: The Slytherine Locket**

Tonks was having a very bad day; to say that she was pissed was an understatement. She had night shifts for past three days which was the main reason for her lack of sleep. That day just as she was retreating to the comforts of her bed she was called on an important case, someone had broken into the Department of Mysteries again. The case had taken a long time to investigate, they had no luck on catching the culprit. As she reached home for a decent sleep Dumbledore and the Weasleys had dragged her to Grimmauld place. She was angry that she was not able to witness the reading of the will and now these people had dragged her along with them without even giving a valid reason.

When they reached there Dumbledore explained that Sirius had welcomed her back into the family, so they would be able to enter the headquarters along with her, but she was still pissed.

As usual she entered the hallway only to trip on the umbrella stand, she cursed her clumsiness. Molly and Dumbledore tried to close the curtains on the portrait of Mrs Black which was trying to rupture their eardrums, Ron stood there least bothered while Ginny ran upstairs , Tonks entered the living room and stopped dead in her path. Remus was there! next to him stood Narcissa Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy and Snape were holding Aurora and next to them was... she did a double take, Sirius! was she imagining it?! She opened her mouth to scream before someone closed her mouth from behind and dragged her into a room.

(Living room when Tonks entered)

Tonks entered the living room looking pissed. She took one look and started to scream but Remus silenced her and dragged her into a room.

"What the fuck are you waiting for Sirius? Run, hide.", Aurora said in a deadly whisper.

Sirius turned into Padfoot and ran towards the hallway, he saw Albus and Molly busy trying to shut his mother's screech .He ran up the stairs, he had reached 1st floor, 'one more to go' when he saw Ginny coming down the stairs so he bolted into a nearby room , turned back and locked the door firmly before he took his surroundings, 'great' for his bad luck he was in Regulus's room. He had to dwell there till the others left, he wanted to hit himself with a hammer, he knew that Tonks could come in there as she was a Black family member, what's done is done. He looked around the room; it had been almost 20 years since he was there. On the table next to the bed was an old photo, a photo of Regulus and his when they were small. He stared at the photo, a lot of emotions flowed in him , he couldn't take it anymore. He stood up abruptly knocking the table in the process. A bundle of letters caught his attention, he opened the bundle, and all the letters were addressed to him,

Dear Sirius,

How are you? I heard from mother that you are sorted into Gryffindor, I am happy for you. I knew you never had it in you to be a Slytherine.

Mother is not happy though, she threatened to disown me if I ended up anywhere other than Slytherine.

Guess my luck is not as good as yours.

I hope you have made new friends, write back soon.

You're Brother,

Regulus.

He didn't know what to make out of it, he continued reading the other letters, all of them were the same, threatening him to be a Slytherin, joining the Dark Lord, the tortures he witnessed when he was a Death Eater, his remorse after killing someone, his decision to change sides. Sirius finished the last letter, which shocked him to the core, was Regulus referring to what Sirius thought he was. He re-read the letter.

Dear Sirius,

I don't know whether I'll be alive after this but I want to ask you one last favour before I die.

Few days before The Dark Lord ordered me to get him a house elf for some work. I ordered Kreacher to do the Dark Lords bidding and return. When he returned I was shaken, he was almost dying. The Dark Lord had taken him to some cave and made him drink some portion, hid something and left bragging about him being immortal and how no one can kill him.

I'm going back to the cave and taking Kreacher with me, but I'll drink the portion, I love the elf too much, I can't let anything happen him. I've ordered him to take the thing and destroy it, I'm not sure I'll return alive.

If Kreacher is not able to destroy it I want you to destroy it as a last favour for your younger brother. Can you please do it for me?

Your loving brother,

Regulus

He carefully put the letter in his pocket to show it to others later. He had to wait for that meddling old fool and his headless chickens to leave.

(Living Room)

After closing the portrait Albus, Molly and Ron entered the living room only to encounter the Malfoys.

"What are you doing here?" Albus asked.

"What do you think we are doing?" Lucius asked him back.

"Trying to steal our information, so that you can give it to your master!" Ron sneered.

"Ah it looks like your son does have some brains with intelligence in it. I was wondering if all of it was over with so many children you have that he was left with nothing." Lucius said.

"What do you mean by my son not having brains, he is the smartest of all my children!" Molly shouted.

"Well I can only fathom what your other sons are like if he is the most intelligent of all!" Narcissa said.

"Now Mrs Malfoy no need to speak ill of other people." Dumbledore said.

"My wife was not speaking ill of anyone she was just telling the fact." Lucius said " Now if you can be kind enough to leave my house that will be appreciated."

" Why should we go out? This is the Order's headquaters so you must get out." Ron said.

"If you keep your nose out of things that does not concern you it will be good for your health Weasley." Lucius said "Now get out of my house or I'll tell the house elf to throw you out"

"Who do you think you are to throw us out and don't threaten my son Malfoy." Molly said.

"I am the..." Lucius was about to continue when he heard a scream and next thing he knew that the youngest Weasley was manhandling his only heir.

(Harry's Room)

Harry hummed happily working his way through his room, he had finished all his homework, which remained him to owl Hermione and tell her about everything that's happening.

He took a parchment and quill and started writing.

Dear Mione',

I hope you are doing well, I am fine. Lot of things happened this summer; I want to tell you about it but can't write it in the letter. Why don't we meet in Diagon Alley while we go for school shopping? I'll meet you in Leaky Cauldron. I'll owl you the date and time later.

Your friend,

Harry.

P.S: Don't tell anything about the letter to the Weasleys, especially Ron. Tell you about it when we meet.

He gave the letter to Hedwig and the owl left to deliver the letter.

Draco for his part was oblivious to everything that was happening around him, as he was staring at Harry. His eyes roamed Harry's body taking in the muscles, his hair and his overall presence. His eyes fell to his ass and a blush crept over his cheeks as he hurriedly brought his eyes back up. _'Potter, that body, and that hair, so bloody hot'_

His eyes moved back up and locked onto Harry's. He saw the amusement in them and he cursed himself silently for getting caught. He quickly schooled his thoughts into indifference and placed a sneer on his face.

"So tell me Potter," Draco said as he moved to sit on the bed. "What's with your change in appearance?"

"I've always been like this. Like what you see?" Harry teased.

"You wish," Draco sneered. He swallowed forcefully when Harry sat next to him, his hand caressing his toned chest. His eyes dropped and he held back a moan.

"Draco," Harry's voice broke through his musings. "If you could desist in salivating over my appearance, it would be much appreciated."

"I was not drooling over you!" Draco scoffed. "As if." He turned his head away as he tried to remove the image of Harry out of his head. He knew that he liked guys, he knew since third year when he was kissed by Pansy Parkinson, it was a nightmare. He got up and started pacing the room.

"So tell me Draco how was your holidays?" Harry asked coming and standing behind him.

"Why do you care? And what did you just call me? From when are we on first name basis?" Draco replied.

"From the time you tried to kiss me at Gringotts Drake"

"What are you on about?" Draco snapped. "And don't call me 'Drake'!"

"Alright, if you insist", Harry said and turned his gaze to Draco. His eyes drifted over the blond and noted, with approval, that he was wearing black slacks that hugged his ass and a black shirt that had some room for him to move in. Draco had taken his cloak off and had thrown it on the bed. Harry smiled to himself as he saw that Draco was trying to avoid looking at him.

"What's the matter Draco?" Harry leaned forward to whisper in his ear, causing a shiver to go through Draco's body.

"N-nothing," Draco swallowed.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked as he stepped closer, melding his body to Draco's, pressing himself against Draco´s backside.

"Yes," Draco couldn't hold in the whimper as he felt Harry against his back.

"Hmmm," Harry said as he bent his head down to kiss Draco's neck; Draco immediately tilted his head to give him better access. Harry's arms went around his waist.

"Fuck!" Draco said as his head fell back to rest on Harry's shoulder.

With that, he turned Draco around and captured his lips in a kiss. He swiped his tongue across Draco's lips and couldn't help but to groan when his tongue gained entrance. He tightened his hold on Draco's waist and pulled him close, relishing the moan that came from Draco. He broke the kiss and trailed a path down his neck, sucking and nipping on the skin as he went.

When Harry had kissed him, Draco's mind went straight into a pleasurable fog; he couldn't think of anything beyond the feel of Harry's lips on his. He had felt Harry's tongue on his lips and he couldn't help but to immediately open his mouth to give him entrance. Feeling Harry's tongue in his mouth and playing with his was pure heaven for him. When he was pulled closer, he couldn't stop the moan even if he wanted to.

He whimpered as Harry's lips left his, but moaned as he felt them trail down his neck. After a few seconds, he grabbed Harry's head, bringing his lips back to him.

Draco pulled him back in for a kiss, and walked them backwards until Harry's back hit the bed. His hands moved down to cup his ass, drawing a groan from him, and he lifted him up, allowing Harry to wrap his legs around his waist. The movement brought their body even closer together and both moaned at the feeling. Harry pulled away to look in his eyes.

"Do you know how much I want to fuck you right now?" Draco panted.

"Draco" Harry whimpered at the image his words created.

"Tell me you want that," Draco whispered as he leaned forward. He increased the grinding. "Tell me..."

"Fuck." Harry whimpered before he leant forward and seized Draco's lips in rough, demanding kiss. He wrapped his arms around Draco's neck and pressed himself closer, moving his body off the bed to mould them chest to chest. Draco's hands gripped his ass tighter.

"I…(pants)…I w—

Before Harry could finish his sentence someone banged into the room, there was silence for a second before a scream was heard and Draco was pushed off the bed.

"Let me go" Draco said as he tried to scramble out of the intruders arms.

"What do you think you are doing ferret, he is MINE"

"GINNY" Harry said horrified.

"I don't see it written anywhere" Draco sneered.

"Harry what were you doing?" Ginny asked.

"Normal people call it sex, I don't know what idiots like you call" Draco scoffed. He was angry, after all these years of waiting his dreams were coming true only to be shattered by the Weaslette.

"MOTHER, PROFESSOR, HARRY AND MALFOY ARE DOING YOU KNOW WHAT" Ginny screeched and ran from the room.

"You know what?" Harry asked confused.

"Sex" Draco replied.

They looked at each other horrified.

"FATHER"

Draco cried and ran from the room followed by Harry.

They entered the kitchen and found Remus and Tonks snogging the life out of each other.

'When did that happen' Harry thought 'I'll get the details later".

They entered the living room and found everyone expect Sirius and the kissing love birds in some heated argument. Ginny was standing there red faced trying to get the crowd's attention.

Ginny took one look at Draco and Harry and saw that they were holding hands.

"MALFOY I'M GOING TO KILL YOU" Ginny shouted and pounced on Draco.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

Poor Draco was sandwiched between Harry and Ginny who was trying to rip his balls off.

"DRACO are you alright? Weasley unhand my son RIGHT NOWWWWWW" Cissa said.

Aurora and Lucius dragged Ginny off Draco and held her tight.

She started kicking and screaming and punching.

"HE IS MINE, I AM GOING TO KILL ANYONE WHO TOUCHES HIM, HARRY POTTER IS MINE AND ONLY MINE!"

Not wanting to hear this nonsense anymore someone silenced and stunned her.

She fell with a thud as Lucius and Aurora went to help the boys.

Remus and Tonks, who had stopped their love making session and come in search of the noise and were helping Harry to his feet while Cissa was tending Draco.

"What did you do to my daughter?" Molly screeched.

"Well I already had a headache and your daughter was not helping with it so I stunned her" Tonks said.

"And you will not be retrieving her till you get out of this house" Lucius said.

"And why should we listen to you, Mr Malfoy?" Albus said.

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, Si... Black made Draco the heir for the Black family which in turn means the house now belongs to Draco which means the house is under my control till Draco comes to age." Lucius replied.

"Then what are Harry, Remus and Lupin doing here?" Albus asked.

"I'm not as cruel as you paint me Dumbledore. I know the boy has just lost his Godfather and he is still grieving. I'm letting the boy stay here so he can feel close to his Godfather and since Sandy is his guardian and Lupin wants to stay close I'm letting them stay as well." Lucius replied.

"Harry you can't stay here." Ron.

"Oh and why not?" Draco said.

"He thinks Burrow as his home." Ron said smugly.

"No Harry thinks Hogwarts as his home." Draco replied before he could stop himself.

Lucius raised an eyebrow towards his wife asking of this new development in their son.

Ron went red and said "His best friend stays at the Burrow."

"No his best friend stays in the muggle world."

"I'm his best friend and I don't stay in muggle world"

"His best friend is Granger and then you come."

"He likes my mother's cooking."

"No he likes to have muggle food and your mother does not know how to cook muggle food."

"He cannot do homework without me."

"He already finished his homework."

"He thinks my mother as his guardian."

"But Ms Lupin is his guardian now."

"He likes my sister." Ron said with a evil glint.

"No he does not." Draco said stubbornly.

"How do you know?" Ron asked.

"He is already in love with someone else."

"And who might that be?"

"Me."

"You?"

"Yes I'm his boyfriend." Draco said proudly.

"Boyfriend?" Cissa asked amused.

"Ya well you would have asked if Weaslette had not disturbed us." Draco said glaring at Ginny.

"And what were you doing?" Sandy asked eyeing them carefully.

"Making love of course." Draco said offhandedly.

Harry looked at him horrified. The room was silent for some moment and then hell broke lose...again.

Aurora and Cissa were looking amused, Remus was trying to throttle Draco while Tonks tried to stop him, Lucius was torn between helping his son and saving his may-be-future-son-in-law, Ron had fainted and Molly and Albus were trying to get Harry out of the house.

"Harry I think he has given you a love portion, come with me I'll get you out of this nightmare." Molly said trying to push him out of the living room.

"Harry you have to stop this for the greater good, a saviour cannot be with enemies." Albus said pushing him further.

Harry was pulled back into the living room by Lucius, who also managed to get Albus and Molly out of the room, and Remus had momentarily stopped trying to kill Draco.

"You alright?" Draco asked Harry hugging him.

Just as things were settling, the spell which was binding Ginny broke, next instant she was on her feet, tearing Harry away from the blond's arm. Draco, who was not ready to let go of his new found boyfriend to some annoying witch,pulled Harry back but Ginny didn't give up and tried to pull him back and poor Harry was played tag between Draco and Ginny.

(Regulus's Room)

Sirius was pacing as minutes went by, he had something important to tell and the morons were not leaving.

He wanted to go and destroy all the did not want Harry live like that and he knew the information would break the boy.

Nothing was right, he was feeling so helpless, he just wanted to go and hit Voldemort till he said where and what the other Horcrux were.

He stopped pacing and thought 'enough of this', he called

"Kreacher"

The elf appeared,"Yes master Sirius?" with strained voice.

"I want the Weasleys and Dumbledore out of the house NOW and make sure they cannot come in unless I give them permission" Sirius ordered.

The elf bowed and left, happy to do his binding for once.

(Living room)

Harry took few seconds to catch his breath, he did not know what happened. One second he was being pushed out of the room only to be pulled back then he was embraced in a bone cracking hug and next instant he was swinging between two shouting people claiming him to be theirs. He was more than relieved when Weasleys and Dumbledore all together vanished from the house.

"Where's Severus?" Lucius asked.

"What just happened?" Remus asked.

"I asked Kreacher to throw them out, I have something important to show you" Sirius said entering the room.

He lightly hugged Tonks who was crying and gave the letter to Aurora.

"Looks like my brother had written some letters to me but had not got the heart to send it."

She was silent for a moment and then said "Cissa can you please call Kreacher and ask him to get you the thing Regulus gave him before dying"

"Kreacher" Cissa called.

The elf popped in "What can Kreacher do mistress?"

"I want you to get the thing Regulus gave you before he died"

"Kreacher won't, Kreacher won't, Kreacher won't!" croaked the house-elf.

"Kreacher give me the thing" Cissa said.

"Won't, won't, won't, WON'T!"

"Kreacher I gave you an order"

For a moment it looked as though Kreacher was going to choke. He grabbed his throat, his mouth still working furiously, his eyes bulging. After a few seconds of frantic gulping, he threw himself face forward onto the carpet and beat the floor with his hands and feet, giving himself over to a violent, but entirely silent tantrum.

"Kreacher get the thing this instant" Cissa ordered.

Kreacher, who was now lying flat on his back with his arms and legs in the air, gave one upside-down look of deepest regret and, with another loud crack, vanished.

He came back with a locket in his hand Harry ,moved forward in daze and took the locket from him.

It had a golden chain and a frame which had an emerald stone with a serpentine S inside the stone. He looked at the serpentine S which resembled a miniature snake. He concentrated on the letter S, imagining a serpent, while the contents of the locket rattled like a trapped cockroach, he hissed "open" without even realizing it. The golden doors of the locket swung wide with a little click. Behind both of the glass windows within blinked a living eye, dark and handsome as Tom Riddle's eyes had been before he turned them scarlet and slit-pupiled.

He looked into the depth of those eyes and next thing he knew was being pulled into some kind of memory only difference was he could feel it. The screams, blood, sadness, hatred, evil, murder, horror, pain, cruel satisfaction... he wanted to stop the person, he could feel it, understand it before darkness engulfed him.

Harry lay flat on his back, breathing hard as though he had been running. He had a vivid dream with his hands pressed over his face. The scar on his forehead was burning beneath his fingers as though someone had just pressed a white-hot wire to his skin.

His one hand was still on his scar, the other hand reaching out for his glasses, someone helped him. He put them on and the room lit by a faint, misty orange light came into focus. Harry ran is fingers over the scar again. It was still painful.

"Are you alright Harry?" came a worried voice.

"Water" he rasped.

Someone helped him with the water. As his focus became clear he realised that he was laying on his back his head resting on Aurora's lap and other were crowding around him. They helped him to sit up and once he was comfortable he asked

"What happened?"

"You took the locket, you were staring at it and then hissed something and then your eyes went wide, you fell and started screaming and next thing we knew you fainted" Sirius replied.

Harry took a deep breath and said "I think it is one of the Horcrux. I felt a strange pull towards it, it was calling me, it wanted me to touch it, it wanted to possess and control me. I said open and then I I... was pulled into some kind of memory. I saw him kill small children to make this Horcrux."

"It confirms my suspicion, but how do we destroy it" Sirius asked.

"_There are only a few things that can destroy a Horcrux. Horcrux are evil things containing a part of human soul for which the soul must be ripped. During the process we not only rip our soul apart but also the emotions bound with it. One who creates a Horcrux loses his humanity which in turn makes him insane, void of all human emotion. So when one destroys a Horcrux he not only kills a part of his soul but also the emotions attached to it which will be a strong negative emotion most of the time. Destroying it is not simple , there are only a few things that can destroy it such as a goblin made sword, a strong snake venom and very dark spells..._. No wonder The Dark Lord is completely insane" Severus said shutting the book from which he was reading. He looked around to see that all of them were staring at him.

"You sounded just like Hermione" Harry stated.

"What?" he asked feeling his cheeks becoming hot.

"It's been hardly a day since I informed you about the Horcrux and you already have a book about it. Only you the Great Severus Snape can accomplish such things" Aurora said.

"Well we are after all in the house of Blacks, if they don't have a book about it then no one can" Severus replied.

"Sword of Gryffindor is Goblin made but we cannot take it without the headmaster noticing, Dark curses are out, it leaves us with Poison and I know where to get it. I have to go down to the chamber of secrets to destroy the horcrux ." Harry said thoughtfully.

"Yes you can do that. Once you return to Hogwarts you can go down to the chamber and destroy it but you will not go alone you'll take Severus and someone else with you ok?" Remus said.

"Alright now we had enough excitement in one day so why don't you go and wash up dinner will be ready by that time" Cissa said.

With that everyone went off to do their work.


	9. A Broken Heart And An Unbroken Pride

**The Change In Destiny**

**Chapter 9: A Broken Heart And An Unbroken Pride**

Harry was staring at the letter in his hand trying to guess whether he was still dreaming or not. He couldn't believe his eyes. He had his OWLs score in his hand and he couldn't make out whether they had exchanged his results with someone else's.

Sirius was calling, "Harry hurry up we'll be late."

"Ya I'm coming."

Draco, Sandy, Sirius, Remus and 'unfortunately' Snape were already at the table and Draco was holding the same piece of paper as his, which could only be his results. Draco had been staying with them all summer because his psychopathic aunt and the Dark lord were camping at the Malfoy Manor. His father wanted him to be as far away as possible from the mad man. This also meant spending a lot of time with Snape, as the man was surprisingly very protective of the blond.

"So Potter will my class and I be rid of you now that you have managed to show everyone what a dunderhead you are?",came the voice of the greasy bat.

Harry sniggered and said "Looks like it is a dream that can never come true. You have to endure me for two more years"

"Did you forget Potter that I take only those students who manage to get Outstanding in my subject in OWLs?"

"Well it pains to tell me but I did get an O in Potions."

There was a choking noise and Sirius fell off his chair, he was startled by this new development. Snape was looking like he had swallowed a live frog. Remus took the letter from his hand.

"Fantastic Harry, with all the things going on you have done a fabulous job."

"Not bad Harry seven OWLs is a great achievement, your dad and Sirius had managed only six OWLs considering how good they were in potion it was a miracle that they got A in it." Sandy said.

"How did you do?" Harry asked Draco. He took the offered piece of paper. It was really good compared to his.

"Not bad Draco." Harry said.

"I just hope Father will be happy."

"That reminds me Draco, we will first go to Ministry of Magic. From there, your father will pick you up." Snape said.

"Alright Severus let me pack my bag then we'll leave." Draco replied.

Lucius had lied to Voldemort that Draco was in France spending his time in their summer villa. Only Harry and a handful of people knew the truth. Dumbledore and Weasleys were told that Harry and Lupin were staying at Sandy's place and none of them were welcome. So the interaction between them was minimum for which Harry was grateful.

"At what time are you meeting Hermione?" Remus asked.

"At 11 near Madam Malkin's."

"Remus and Tonks will take you there Harry, Aurora and I have some work in Gringotts. We have a meeting with goblins at 11.30, can't miss it." Sirius said.

"Alright I'll be down in 15 minutes." Harry said heading upstairs.

Harry was standing in front of Draco's room, ready to knock but his heart was not agreeing with him. He was afraid of what the blond will tell. After the Weasleys had left, Draco had gone to his room and stayed there till next afternoon. When he had come down he was back to addressing him as Potter. Everything that had happened between them was gone like a dream. Draco had not even batted his eyelashes when he was asked about it. He had said "Whatever happened was onetime thing, do you fancy me running behind you Potter".

He wanted to ask something, he wanted some answers and he wanted them now, but a part of him was afraid of the answer. After everything with Dumbledore and Weasleys he couldn't take this one.

"I know you are there in." came Draco's voice from inside.

'Here goes nothing' Harry thought and went inside.

"What do you want Potter?"

Harry took a deep breath and tried, but the words were not coming out of him.

"I don't have the whole day to waste on you. You either talk or I'm going back to my work"

"I wanted to ask about that day..." Harry trailed off he couldn't get the words out of him.

"Look Harry, I know what happened that day is something we cannot forget like it never happened. But we ... you have to forget it. What happened that day between you and me cannot happen again. It's too much of a risk. I cannot put my family in any more danger."

It was painful but Harry understood, being Voldemort's followers Malfoys were in too much trouble Draco was found with Harry, Voldemort would kill them and it won't be a merciful one. Before Harry could say anything Draco said something that broke Harry's heart into million pieces.

"It's just not about Voldemort,even if the Dark Lord is dead we can never be together. The wizarding world will not allow it. We just can't be together. We cannot forget the five years of enmity and the hurtful words we said each other"

They stood in silence for what seemed like eternity. Draco took his bag and went for the door. He turned back to Harry.

The emerald green eyes were shining with the unshed tears. It hurt Draco to do that and he knew he could never forgive himself for that but he had to do it.

"I like you Harry I really do... But I don't like you so much that I can forget the fact that you choose a Weasley over me".

"Why is he taking such a long time? He said he'll be back in fifteen minutes. It's been over an hour"

"Calm down Remus he'll be down in few minutes." Tonks said.

"I can't Dora. Nothing is right about whatever is going on. I mean Sirius is back that's good but he'll be gone with Sandy someplace most of the time. If I ask he says he is helping Harry but he won't tell me what he is up to. Sandy is not telling exactly how she knows about the Hocorucx thing and Harry being one of them but she is very confident about it. Harry looks lost and broken,he won't tell me what's wrong. How can I be calm?"

Dora just hugged Remus till he had calmed down. "I know nothing is going right from past few weeks. But we'll make it right. And about Harry whatever is wrong with him I know Hermione will get it out of him. So don't worry everything will be back to normal before you know it."

"I just hope you're right Dora."

They heard a knock and Harry came in.

He was a mess. His eyes were red, he looked defeated and beaten down, there was an unbearable sadness in him.

"Are you alright Harry?" Remus asked.

"Ya I'm fine. Can we leave I'm dying to meet Hermione."

"If you're sure Harry. If you're not up to the trip I can pick up Hermione." Tonks said.

"No I'm fine let's go." Harry replied.


	10. The Red Head's Misfortune

Chapter 10: The Red Head's Misfortune

Ron Weasley was having a very bad summer. To tell the truth he was having the worst summer of all. First he was thrown out of his best friend's house, then Dumbledore had stopped paying him, he had no money to buy his favourite sweets, when he had reached home the idiotic twins had once again used him as a pig to test their products on and he had sprouted multicolour hair. His hair was a combination of yellow, green and silver. He looked like a... slytherin fan for crying out loud. The spell lasted for weeks. His mom was busy and hence she refused to do his shopping and now he was strolling around the alley looking like a mad man.

He was at least hoping that he would find either Hermione or Harry so he could get them buy him some sweets, after all that was why friends were for or else why would he be with a girl who was a bookworm; not even good to look at and a boy who had the worst luck in the whole wizarding world.

He saw a huge crowd in front of the qudditch shop. There were reporters taking picture and a group of people from Hufflepuff .

So the Triwizard champion Cedric Diggory must be there. Oh how he hated that boy. Cedric had not only won the championship but had also got the highest NEWTs that year. The papers had talked about him the whole summer instead of telling about Vol...Vol... You-Know-Who and how he and his family were fighting against those filthy death eaters. He never understood why Harry had gone through all that trouble of fighting the death eaters and their master just to save the boy at the end of the third task and Harry had even said that he was not a real champion of Hogwarts and the trophy does not belong to him. At least he had taken the quarter of the prize money when Dumbledore had forced it on wondered what Harry did with that money. He might need to ask Harry about it when he finds him. If he was a bit sneaky about it he might get some of that money.

"Have you heard?", a second year Hufflepuff asked.

"What? The ministry at last kicked the champion out of his position?", as if he was a fan girl keeping tabs on the champion.

"You are out of your mind mister. Cedric is the best Unspeakable they've got. He has invented a new charm that identifies the dark mark. So the death eaters cannot hide their marks anymore. Isn't he cool?"

"Ya, I'm sure anyone can do that",said Ron thinking 'great one more wonder'.

"You've lost your marbles. If you ask nicely Cedric may invent a charm that will help you find them.", the boy said and ran away.

The nerve of that boy. Ron could not understand people's fascination with Diggory. Even Hermione kept talking about him, Cedric this, Cedric that, he was fed up of her constantly talking about Cedric. Wait till Harry defeats the Dark Lord, he will be famous for being boy-who-lived's best friend. Girls will swoon over him for his autograph, if he moves a toe it will be front page news in the prophet.

Cursing Diggory he never saw where he was going and crashed into someone in his haste and landed hard on his bum "Offff"

"Look where you are going Weasley" A cold voice entered his sense. He looked up to find a pair of angry onyx eyes staring at him 'Oh god not Snape, not now, not like this'.

He stood up and dusted his clothes with a retort on his tongue when...

"Nice hair style Weasley." a voice drawled bored.

Not Jr Malfoy too, no no no...

Why that bouncy ferret, what was he doing with the greasy git...

"You're looking like a merman out of water." Draco said.

"Look here you slimy death eater..."

"You know Weasley you are no fun anymore, you are like a broken record, you slimy snake, you slimy death eater, bouncing ferret, bhla bhla bhla try something new." Draco teased.

"Now Malfoy..."

"You know there is a fountain few block from here. You can go and try drowning there maybe it will help us from your feeble shit filled brain. Come on Professor we are wasting our time." and they left.

Shit filled brain? Look at that slimy snake ordering a Professor around, I'll show him not to mess with me but not now I have to still find Harry and Hermione.

He searched the whole ally until he reached the shop the twins were starting. No one in the house knew what the shop was or how they had got the money to buy it in the first place. To tell the truth he was a bit jealous, the shop was bound to get a lot of money with all the promotion the twins were doing, everyone were talking about the mysterious shop. It was opening in a few hours. He could wait there, Harry surely wouldn't miss the opening and he could meet him then.

With a plan he headed towards the ice cream shop completely ignorant about the misfortune the visit would hurl at him.


	11. The WWW

I do not own harry potter

Chapter 11: THE "WWW"

Harry couldn't believe it. The twins were at last starting their own joke shop.

Set against the dull, poster-muffled shop fronts around them, Fred and George's windows hit the eye like a firework display. Casual passer-by would look back over their shoulders at the windows, and a few rather stunned-looking people had actually come to a halt, transfixed. The left-hand window was dazzlingly full of an assortment of goods that revolved, popped, flashed, bounced, and shrieked. Harry's eyes began to water just by looking at it. The right-hand window was covered with a gigantic poster, purple like those from the Ministry, but emblazoned with flashing yellow letters:

_**WHY ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT **_

_**YOU-KNOW-WHO? **_

_**YOU SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT **_

_**U-NO-POO — **_

_**THE CONSTIPATION SENSATION **_

_**THAT'S GRIPPING THE NATION! **_

Harry started to laugh. He heard a weak sort of moan beside him and turned around to see Remus gazing, dumbfounded, at the poster. His lips moved silently, mouthing the name "U-No-Poo."

"They'll be murdered in their sleep!" Hermione whispered behind him.

"No, they won't!" said Tonks who, like Harry, was laughing. "This is brilliant!"

And the group led the way into the shop. It was packed with customers. Harry could not get near the shelves. He stared around, looking up at the boxes piled to the ceiling. In this tower of containers were the Skiving Snackboxes that the twins had perfected during their last, unfinished year at Hogwarts. Harry noticed that the Nosebleed Nougat was the most popular, only one battered box left on the shelf. There were bins full of trick wands; the cheapest merely turning into rubber chickens or pairs of briefs when waved, the most expensive beating the unwary user around the head and neck. There were boxes of quills, which came in Self-Inking, Spell-Checking, and Smart-Answer varieties. A space cleared in the crowd, and Harry pushed his way toward the counter, where a gaggle of delighted ten-year-olds was watching a tiny little wooden man slowly ascend the steps to a real set of gallows, both perched on a box that read: _Reusable hangman - spell it or he'll swing! _

"'_Patented Daydream Charms…'" _

Hermione had managed to squeeze through to a large display near the counter and was reading the information on the back of a box that bore a highly coloured picture of a handsome youth and a swooning girl, standing on the deck of a pirate ship.

"'One simple incantation and you will enter a top-quality, highly realistic, thirty-minute daydream! It's easy to fit into the average school lesson and virtually undetectable (side effects include vacant expression and minor drooling). Not for sale to under-sixteens.' You know," said Hermione, looking up at Harry, "That really is extraordinary magic!"

"For that, Hermione," said a voice behind them, "You can have one for free."

A beaming Fred stood before them, wearing a set of magenta robes that clashed magnificently with his flaming hair.

"How are you, Harry?" They shook hands. "Come on, Harry, I'll give you a tour."

Harry followed Fred towards the back of the shop, where he saw a stand of card and rope tricks.

"Muggle magic tricks!" said Fred happily, pointing them out. "For freaks like Dad, you know, who love Muggle stuff. It's not a big earner, but we do fairly steady business, they're great novelties… Oh, here's George…"

Fred's twin shook Harry's hand energetically.

"Giving him the tour? Come through the back, Harry, that's where we're making the real money… Pickpocket anything and you'll pay in more than Galleons!" he added warningly to a small boy who hastily whipped his hand out of the tub labelled _EDIBLE DARK MARKS —THEY'LL MAKE ANYONE SICK! _

George pushed back a curtain beside the Muggle tricks and Harry saw a darker, less crowded room. The packaging on the products lining these shelves was more subdued.

"We've just developed this more serious line," said Fred. "Funny how it happened…"

"You wouldn't believe how many people, even people who work at the Ministry, can't do a decent Shield Charm," said George. "'Course, they didn't have you teaching them, Harry."

"That's right… Well, we thought Shield Hats were a bit of a laugh. You know, challenge your mate to jinx you while wearing it and watch his face when the jinx just bounces off. But the Ministry bought five hundred for its entire support staff! And we're still getting massive orders!"

"So we've expanded into a range of Shield Cloaks, Shield Gloves…"

"…I mean, they wouldn't help much against the Unforgivable Curses, but for minor to moderate hexes or jinxes…"

"And then we thought we'd get into the whole area of Defence Against the Dark Arts, because it's such a money spinner," continued George enthusiastically. "This is cool. Look, Instant Darkness Powder, we're importing it from Peru. Handy if you want to make a quick escape."

"And our Decoy Detonators are just walking off the shelves! Look!" said Fred, pointing at a number of weird-looking black horn-type objects that were indeed attempting to scurry out of sight. "You just drop one surreptitiously and it'll run off and make a nice loud noise out of sight, giving you a diversion if you need one."

"Handy," said Harry, impressed.

"Here," said George, catching a couple and throwing them to Harry.

A young witch with short blonde hair poked her head around the curtain. Harry saw that she too was wearing magenta staff robes.

"There's a customer out here looking for a joke cauldron, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley," she said.

Harry found it very odd to hear Fred and George be called "Mr. Weasley," but they took it in their stride.

"Right you are, Verity, I'm coming," said George promptly. "Harry, help yourself to anything you want, all right? No charge."

"I can't do that!" said Harry, who had already pulled out his money bag to pay for the Decoy Detonators.

"You don't pay here," said Fred firmly, waving away Harry's gold.

"But…"

"You gave us our start-up loan, we haven't forgotten," said George sternly, "Take whatever you like, and just remember to tell people where you got it from, if they ask."

George swept off through the curtain to help with the customers, and Fred led Harry back into the main part of the shop to find Hermione and, unfortunately, Ginny poring over the Patented Daydream Charms.

"Haven't you girls found our special WonderWitch products yet?" asked Fred. "Follow me, ladies…"

Near the window was an array of violently pink products around which a cluster of excited girls was giggling enthusiastically. Hermione and Ginny both hung back, looking wary.

"There you go," said Fred proudly. "Best range of love potions you'll find anywhere."

Ginny squealed and grabbed a handful of them.

Harry raised an eyebrow sceptically. "Do they work?" he asked, already dreading the answer.

"Certainly they work, for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the weight of the boy in question…"

"…and the attractiveness of the girl," said George, reappearing suddenly at their side. "But we're not selling them to our sister," he added, suddenly becoming stern, "Bot when she's already walking around daydreaming about the-boy-who-lived..."

"Whatever you've heard is a big fat lie," said Ginny calmly, leaning forward to take a small pink pot off the shelf. "What's this?"

"Guaranteed ten-second pimple vanisher," said Fred. "Excellent on everything from boils to blackheads, but doesn't change the subject. Were you or were you not complaining about your boyfriend sagging a slimy snake?" He wriggled his eyebrows at Harry who turned a deep shade of red.

"Yes, I was," said Ginny. "And last time I looked, he was definitely not my boyfriend, not anymore. What are those?"

She was pointing at a number of round balls of fluff in shades of pink and purple, all rolling around the bottom of a cage and emitting high-pitched squeaks.

"Pygmy Puffs," said George. "Miniature puffskeins, we can't breed them fast enough. Really now, since when is he not your boyfriend?"

"I dumped him. He was a bad loser," said Ginny, putting a finger through the bars of the cage and watching the Pygmy Puffs crowd around it. "They're really cute!"

"They're fairly cuddly, yes," conceded Fred. "But you're moving through boyfriends a bit fast, aren't you?"

Ginny turned to look at him, her hands on her hips. There was such a Mrs. Weasley-ish glare on her face. It made Harry surprised to see Fred not recoil in fear.

"It's none of your business. And I'll thank you-" she added angrily to Harry, "Not to spread tales about me!" She stormed away.

"What's up with her?" Harry asked.

"She's been acting like that the whole week." said Fred.

"Better be careful, Harry. You do not want a heart broken girl on your trail. They can be scarier than some death eaters." Remus said, appearing out of nowhere.

Harry gave him a look of utter disbelief. "Don't joke, Remus."

"Well, you can ask snuffles. He can tell you the tale of when he and your dad spent a week in the hospital wing after a gang of heartbroken girls decided to extract revenge together."

Fred looked like Christmas had come early. "Really! Why don't you tell me this tale in detail?" he said dragging Remus with him.

"That's three Galleons, nine Sickles, and a Knut," said George to Ron, who had just appeared at George's elbow, laden with merchandise "Cough it up."

"I'm your brother!"

"And that's our stuff you're nicking. Three Galleons and nine Sickles. I'll knock off the Knut."

"But I haven't got three Galleons and nine Sickles!"

"You'd better put it back then, and mind you, put it on the right shelves."

Ron dropped several boxes, swore, and made a rude hand gesture at Fred that was unfortunately spotted by Mrs. Weasley, who had chosen that moment to appear.

"If I see you do that again, I'll jinx your fingers together," she said sharply and dragged Ron away with her.

"Oh, George, what happened to Ron's hair?" Hermione asked curiously.

"That would be the instant clown powder..." George trailed off, explaining different products to Hermione.

"Always the curious one, isn't she?" Tonks asked, her hand laden with Pygmy Puffs.

"Yeah, she is," Harry replied fondly.

"So, did you have a nice chat?" Tonks asked about the time when she and Remus had left them alone at the ice cream shop earlier that day.

"Yeah, she was quite angry with Ron. She only mentioned the promise of revenge once we got back to Hogwarts. It saved Ron's hide, for now."

"And Malfoy...?" Tonks asked, broaching the forbidden subject.

"Well, she said Malfoy is going through some love phase and she will set him straight…" Harry relied with a thought full look.

"Then all set for Hogwart's?" Remus asked appearing again.

With a nod from Harry, they set to return to Grimmauld Place, where an eager mutt was waiting for them.

*sorry for late update.

Beta by pure red crane


	12. The return journey and slug club

I don't own Harry potter

Chapter 12: The return journey and the Slug club

Harry had spent the last few weeks of holiday pondering the meaning behind Dra...no, Malfoy's behaviour. What disturbed him most was Sirius' continued absence. It had been almost a fortnight since he left with Sandy in search of horcruxes. He knew searching for them was important, but he was scared. He had almost lost Sirius once. He didn't want to take another chance.

Someone entered the room and the next movement prevented him from continuing to read the potion text as it was snatched from his hands.

"You know if Professor Snape finds you like this, he'll likely get a heart attack. You've been reading the text for the past two hours." Hermione said.

"Well, I did make it into his NEWT's class and I have to survive the next two years without coming out as a dunderhead. I am the-boy-who-lived, after all." Harry said dramatically, but it was lacking its usual humour.

With that sign, Hermione settled next to him and said, "Don't worry, Harry. Sirius will be fine. Let me help you with your homework."

The rest of the holidays were spent the same way.

Harry was mopping around and the others tried to cheer him up, but Sirius never made it back, neither for his birthday nor the day he left for Hogwarts.

Their departure to the King's cross station was smoother than usual. The Ministry cars glided up to the front of the privet drive (not Grimmauld palace to keep the place safe) and found them waiting, trunks packed.

There was no cheerful Hagrid waiting for them at King's Cross Station. Instead, grim-faced, bearded Aurors in dark Muggle suits moved forward the moment the cars stopped and, flanking the party, marched them into the station without speaking

"Quick, quick, through the barrier," said Tonks, who seemed a little flustered by this austere efficiency. "Harry had better go first, with…"

She looked inquiringly at one of the Aurors, who nodded briefly, seized Harry's upper arm, and attempted to steer him toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

"I can walk, thanks," said Harry irritably, jerking his arm out of the Auror's grip. He pushed his trolley directly at the solid barrier, ignoring his silent companion, and, a second later, found himself standing on platform nine and three-quarters, where the scarlet Hogwarts Express stood, belching steam over the crowd.

Hermione and Remus joined him within seconds. Without waiting to consult his grim-faced Auror, Harry motioned Hermione to follow him up the platform, looking for an empty compartment.

"I can't, Harry," said Hermione, looking apologetic. "I've got to go to the prefects' carriage first and then patrol the corridors for a bit."

"Oh yeah, I forgot," said Harry.

Just then, the Weasley's entered the platform. Mrs. Weasley came straight to him and took him in a bear hug.

"Now, dear, you're coming to us for Christmas. It's all fixed with Dumbledore, so we'll see you quite soon," said Mrs. Weasley through the window, as Harry slammed the door shut behind him and the train began to move. "You make sure you look after yourself and…"

The train was gathering speed.

"…be good and…" She was jogging to keep up now.

"…stay safe!"

Harry waved until the train had turned a corner and Remus, Tonks and the others were lost to from view. He was a bit baffled from Mrs Weasley's words, but he couldn't find it within himself to be angry with her. She had after all taken care of him when no one else had. Ron, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter. He tried to settle as far away from Ginny as possible.

People stared shamelessly as he approached. They even pressed their faces against the windows of their compartments to get a look at him. He had expected an upswing in the amount of gaping and gawping. He would have a hard time enduring this term after all thanks to the "Chosen One" rumours in the Daily Prophet. He did not enjoy the sensation of standing in a very bright spotlight.

"Hi, Harry!" said a familiar voice from behind him.

"Neville!" said Harry in relief, turning to see a round-faced boy struggling toward him.

"Hello, Harry," said a girl with long hair and large misty eyes behind Neville.

"Luna, hi, how are you?"

"Very well, thank you," said Luna. She was clutching a magazine to her chest, large letters on the front announcing that there was a pair of free Spectrespecs inside.

"Quibbler still going strong, then?" asked Harry, who felt a certain fondness for the magazine, having given it an exclusive interview the previous year.

"Oh yes, circulation's well up," said Luna happily.

"Let's find some seats," said Harry, and the three of them set off along the train through hordes of silently staring students. At last, they found an empty compartment, and Harry hurried inside gratefully.

"They're even staring at us because we're with you!," said Neville, indicating himself and Luna.

"They're staring at you because you were at the Ministry too," said Harry, as he hoisted his trunk into the luggage rack. "Our little adventure there was all over the Daily Prophet. You must've seen it."

"Yes, I thought Gran would be angry about all the publicity," said Neville, "But she was really pleased. Said I'm starting to live up to my dad at long last. She bought me a new wand, look!"

He pulled it out and showed it to Harry.

"Cherry and unicorn hair," he said proudly. "We think it was one of the last Ollivander ever sold, before he vanished the next day… Oy, come back here, Trevor!"

And he dived under the seat to retrieve his toad as it made one of its frequent bids for freedom.

"Are we still doing D.A. meetings this year, Harry?" asked Luna, who was detaching a pair of psychedelic spectacles from the middle of The Quibbler.

"No point now. We've gotten rid of Umbridge, right?" said Harry, sitting down. Neville bumped his head against the seat as he emerged from under it. He looked most disappointed.

"I liked the D.A! I learned loads with you!"

"I enjoyed the meetings too," said Luna serenely. "It was like having friends."

This was one of those uncomfortable things Luna often said, which made Harry feel a squirming mixture of pity and embarrassment. Before he could respond, however, there was a disturbance outside their compartment door. A group of fourth-year girls was whispering and giggling together on the other side of the glass.

"You ask him!"

"No, you! "

"I'll do it!"

And one of them, a bold-looking girl with large dark eyes, a prominent chin, and long black hair pushed her way through the door.

"Hi, Harry, I'm Romilda, Romilda Vane," she said loudly and confidently. "Why don't you join us in our compartment? You don't have to sit with them," she added in a stage whisper, indicating Neville's bottom, which was sticking out from under the seat again as he groped around for Trevor, and Luna, who was now wearing her free Spectrespecs, which gave her the look of a demented, multi-colored owl.

"They're friends of mine," said Harry coldly.

"Oh," said the girl, looking very surprised. "Oh. Okay."

And she withdrew, sliding the door closed behind her.

"People expect you to have cooler friends than us," said Luna, once again displaying her knack for embarrassing honesty.

"You are cool," said Harry shortly. "None of them was at the Ministry. They didn't fight with me."

"That's a very nice thing to say," beamed Luna. Then she pushed her Spectrespecs farther up her nose and settled down to read The Quibbler.

"We didn't face him, though," said Neville, emerging from under the seat with fluff and dust in his hair and a resigned-looking Trevor in his hand. "You did. You should hear my gran talk about you. _'That Harry Potter's got more backbone than the whole Ministry of Magic put together!' _She'd give anything to have you as a grandson…"

Harry laughed uncomfortably and changed the subject to the OWL results as soon as he could. While Neville recited his grades and wondered aloud whether he would be allowed to take a Transfiguration NEWT, with only an "Acceptable," Harry watched him without really listening.

Neville's childhood had been blighted by Voldemort just as much as Harry's had, but Neville had no idea how close he had come to having Harry's destiny. The prophecy could have referred to either of them, yet, for his own inscrutable reasons, Voldemort had chosen to believe that Harry was the one.

Had Voldemort chosen Neville, it would be Neville sitting opposite to Harry, bearing the lightning-shaped scar and the weight of the prophecy… Or would it? Would Neville's mother have died to save him, as Lily had died for Harry? Surely she would… But what if she had been unable to stand between her son and Voldemort? Would there then have been no "Chosen One" at all? An empty seat where Neville now sat and a scarless Harry, who would have been kissed good-bye by his own mother, not Ron's?

"You all right, Harry? You look funny," said Neville.

Harry started. "Sorry… I…"

"Wrackspurt got you?" asked Luna sympathetically, peering at Harry through her enormous colored spectacles.

"I… what?"

"A Wrackspurt… They're invisible. They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy," she said. "I thought I felt one zooming around in here."

She flapped her hands at thin air, as though beating off large invisible moths. Harry and Neville caught each other's eyes and hastily began to talk about Quidditch.

It was around sun down when Hermione entered the compartment.

"Hi, Neville. Hi, Luna. Guess what?" she added, turning to Harry. "Malfoy's not doing prefect duty. He's just sitting in his compartment with the other Slytherins. We saw him when we passed."

Harry sat up straight, interested. It was not like Draco to pass up the chance to demonstrate his power as a prefect, which he had happily abused all the previous year.

"What did he do when he saw you?"

"The usual," said Hermione indifferently. "Not like him, though, is it? Well… that is"— she did the hand gesture again — "But why isn't he out there bullying the first years?"

"Why are you so interested in Malfoy? He's not up to some mischief, is he?" Neville asked.

"Nothing, just curious." Hermione added hurriedly.

The awkward movement was broken by the compartment door sliding open again and a breathless third-year girl stepped inside.

"I'm supposed to deliver these to Neville Longbottom and Harry P-Potter," she faltered, as her eyes met Harry's and she turned scarlet. She was holding out two scrolls of parchment tied with violet ribbons. Perplexed, Harry and Neville took their respective scrolls and the girl stumbled back out of the compartment.

"What is it?" Hermione asked curiously, as Harry unrolled his.

"An invitation," said Harry.

_Harry, _

_I would be delighted if you would join me for a bite of lunch in compartment C. _

_Sincerely_,

_Professor H. E. F. Slughorn _

"It's from the new defence professor, I guess." Harry said.

"But what does he want me for?" asked Neville nervously, as though he was expecting detention.

"No idea," said Harry "Listen," he added, seized by a sudden brain wave, "Let's go under the Invisibility Cloak, then we might get a good look at Malfoy on the way, see what he's up to."

This idea, however, came to nothing. The corridors, which were packed with people on the lookout for the lunch trolley, were impossible to negotiate while wearing the cloak. Harry stowed it regretfully back in his bag, reflecting that it would have been nice to wear it just to avoid all the staring, which seemed to have increased in intensity even since he had last walked down the train. Every now and then, students would hurtle out of their compartments to get a better look at him. The exception was Cho Chang, who darted into her compartment when she saw Harry coming. As Harry passed the window, he saw her deep in determined conversation with her friend Marietta, who was wearing a very thick layer of makeup that did not entirely obscure the odd formation of pimples still etched across her face. Smirking slightly, Harry pushed on.

When they reached compartment C, they saw at once that they were not Slughorn's only invitees, although judging by the enthusiasm of Slughorn's welcome, Harry was the most warmly anticipated.

"Harry Potter!" said Slughorn, jumping up at the sight of him, so that his great velvet-covered belly seemed to fill all the remaining space in the compartment. His shiny bald head and great silvery moustache gleamed as bright in the sunlight as the golden buttons on his waistcoat. "Good to see you, good to see you! And you must be Mr. Longbottom!"

Neville nodded, looking scared. At a gesture from Slughorn, they sat down opposite to each other in the only two empty seats, which were nearest to the door. Harry glanced around at their fellow guests. He recognized a Slytherin from their year, a tall black boy with high cheekbones and long, slanting eyes. There were also two seventh-year boys Harry did not know. Squashed in the corner beside Slughorn and looking as though she was not entirely sure how she had got there was Ginny.

"Now, do you know everyone?" Slughorn asked Harry and Neville. "Blaise Zabini is in your year, of course-"

Zabini did not make any sign of recognition or greeting, nor did Harry or Neville. Gryffindor and Slytherin students loathed each other on principle.

"This is Cormac McLaggen, perhaps you've come across each other-? No?"

McLaggen, a large, wiry-haired youth, raised a hand. Harry and Neville nodded back at him.

"—and this is Marcus Belby, I don't know whether—"

Belby, who was thin and nervous-looking, gave a strained smile.

"—and this charming young lady tells me she knows you!" Slughorn finished.

Ginny grimaced at Harry and Neville from behind Slughorn's back.

"Well, now, this is most pleasant," said Slughorn cosily. "A chance to get to know you all a little better. Here, take a napkin. I've packed my own lunch. The trolley, as I remember it, is heavy on licorice wands, and a poor old man's digestive system isn't quite up to such things… Pheasant, Belby?"

Belby started and accepted what looked like half a cold pheasant.

"I was just telling young Marcus here that I had the pleasure of teaching his Uncle Damocles," Slughorn told Harry and Neville, now passing around a basket of rolls. "Outstanding wizard, outstanding, and his Order of Merlin most well-deserved. Do you see much of your uncle, Marcus?"

Unfortunately, Beiby had just taken a large mouthful of pheasant and, in his haste to answer Slughorn, he swallowed too fast, turning purple and beginning to choke.

"Anapneo," said Slughorn calmly, pointing his wand at Belby, whose airway seemed to clear at once.

"Not… Not much of him, no," gasped Belby, his eyes streaming.

"Well, of course, I daresay he's busy," said Slughorn, looking questioningly at Belby. "I doubt he invented the Wolfsbane Potion without considerable hard work!"

"I suppose…" said Belby, who seemed afraid to take another bite of pheasant until he was sure that Slughorn was finished with him. "Er…he and my dad don't get on very well, you see, so I don't really know much about…"

His voice tailed away as Slughorn gave him a cold smile and turned to McLaggen instead.

"Now, you, Cormac," said Slughorn, "I happen to know you see a lot of your Uncle Tiberius, because he has a rather splendid picture of the two of you hunting nogtails in, I think, Norfolk?"

"Oh, yeah, a lot fun, that was," said McLaggen. "We went with Bertie Higgs and Rufus Scrimgeour. This was before he became Minister, obviously—"

"Ah, you know Bertie and Rufus too?" beamed Slughorn, now offering around a small tray of pies. Somehow, Belby was missed out. "Now tell me…"

It was as Harry had suspected. Everyone here seemed to have been invited because they were connected to somebody well-known or influential — everyone except Ginny. Zabini, who was interrogated after McLaggen, turned out to have a famously beautiful witch for a mother (from what Harry could make out, she had been married seven times, each of her husbands dying mysteriously and leaving her mounds of gold). It was Neville's turn next. This was a very uncomfortable ten minutes, for Neville's parents, well-known Aurors, had been tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange and a couple of Death Eater cronies. At the end of Neville's interview, Harry had the impression that Slughorn was reserving judgment on Neville, yet to see whether he had any of his parents' flair.

"And now," said Slughorn, shifting massively in his seat with the air of a compere introducing his star act. "Harry Potter! Where to begin? I feel I barely scratched the surface when we met over the summer!" He contemplated Harry for a moment as though he was a particularly large and succulent piece of pheasant, then said, "'The Chosen One,' they're calling you now!"

Harry said nothing. Belby, McLaggen, and Zabini were all staring at him.

"Of course," said Slughorn, watching Harry closely, "There have been rumours for years… I remember when…well —after that terrible night— Lily — James — and you survived — and the word was that you must have powers beyond the ordinary—"

Zabini gave a tiny little cough that was clearly supposed to indicate amused skepticism. An angry voice burst out from behind Slughorn.

"Yeah, Zabini, because you're so talented…at posing…"

"Oh dear!" chuckled Slughorn comfortably, looking at Ginny, who was glaring at Zabini around Slughorn's great belly. "You want to be careful, Blaise! I saw this young lady perform the most marvelous Bat-Bogey Hex as I was passing her carriage! I wouldn't cross her!"

Zabini merely looked contemptuous.

"Anyway," said Slughorn, turning back to Harry. "Such rumours this summer. Of course, one doesn't know what to believe, the Prophet has been known to print inaccuracies, make mistakes — but there seems little doubt, given the number of witnesses, that there was quite a disturbance at the Ministry and that you were there in the thick of it all!"

Harry, who could not see any way out of this without flatly lying, nodded, but still said nothing. Slughorn beamed at him.

"So modest, so modest, no wonder Dumbledore is so fond! You were there, then? But the rest of the stories —so sensational, of course, one doesn't know quite what to believe —this fabled prophecy, for instance-"

"We never heard a prophecy," said Neville, turning geranium pink as he said it.

"That's right," said Ginny staunchly. "Neville and I were both there too, and all this 'Chosen One' rubbish is just the Prophet making things up as usual."

"You were both there too, were you?" said Slughorn with great interest, looking from Ginny to Neville, but both of them sat clam-like before his encouraging smile. "Yes… well… it is true that the Prophet often exaggerates, of course…" Slughorn said, sounding a little disappointed. "I remember dear Gwenog telling me (Gwenog Jones, I mean, of course, Captain of the Holyhead Harpies) —"

He meandered off into a long-winded reminiscence, but Harry had the distinct impression that Slughorn had not finished with him, and that he had not been convinced by Neville and Ginny.

The afternoon wore on with more anecdotes about illustrious wizards Slughorn had taught, all of whom had been delighted to join what he called the "Slug Club" at Hogwarts. Harry could not wait to leave, but couldn't see how to do so politely. Finally, the train emerged from yet another long misty stretch into a red sunset, and Slughorn looked around, blinking in the twilight.

"Good gracious, it's getting dark already! I didn't notice that they'd lit the lamps! You'd better go and change into your robes, all of you. McLaggen, you must drop by and borrow that book on nogtails. Harry, Blaise — any time you're passing. Same goes for you, Miss," He twinkled at Ginny. "Well, off you go, off you go!"

As he pushed past Harry into the darkening corridor, Zabini shot him a filthy look that Harry returned with interest.

The rest of the raid passed on discussing about their new teacher until Ron decided to show up. Then it took a combined effort of Harry and Neville to keep Hermione from physically hurting Ron, though he did get a few kicks in the struggle by mistake and some not so mistaken.

* beta by pure red crane

* Hope you like the chapter. I know its long but I couldn't cut short it.

I've updated two new poems. Please check it out*


End file.
